Jassa Ahluwalia with Afua Hirsch

In conversation with Festival patron and journalist Afua Hirsch, Jassa Ahluwalia discuss the need for a new approach in how we think and talk about mixed heritage identity and how to belong in a divided world.

Feeling caught between two worlds and refusing to passively accept binaries and narratives that we have inherited, Jassa argues that, in a new and inclusive future, we must understand that we don’t exist in halves but as a whole. 

‘Few people write about identity with such fluency and sincerity’
Sathnam Sanghera, on Both Not Half

Limited number of free tickets to residents in postcodes CR4, CR7, SM3 and SM4 (restricted to two free tickets per event, per household).

Under-30s tickets : £10

About the Author

Jassa Ahluwalia is a British actor, writer, filmmaker and trade unionist. Born in Coventry to a white English mum and a brown Punjabi dad in 1990, he spoke English in the playground, Punjabi with his grandparents, and spent various summer holidays in India. He came to prominence as Rocky in the hit BBC Three series Some Girls, followed by starring roles in Unforgotten, Ripper Street, and Peaky Blinders. Jassa created the hashtag #BothNotHalf to explore mixed identity in light of his own British-Indian heritage. His TEDx talk on ‘How Language Shapes Identity’ has clocked up over 170k views and his BBC One documentary Am I English? won an Asian Media Award in 2022.