A councillor from Shadwell pens her journey from Bangladesh to Briton in her forthcoming memoir in a bid to address racial inequalities in the publishing industry.
In her book ‘My Hair is Pink Under This Veil’, Rabina Khan writes about how she came to England when she was only three years old and reminisce her childhood in Rochester, where her father was a docker. The book narrates the story of how a Muslim woman reconciles her faith with British culture against a backdrop of blame, bias, ignorance and misogyny, including from her own community. Khan sets out to challenge outdated views and stereotypes about Muslim women and explore misconceptions regarding Islam, inequality and integration at a time when UK faces its own issues with radicalisation, extremism and political divisions. Speaking about the curious title of her forthcoming book, she said,
“A white man once asked me what colour my hair was under my veil. I smiled and said it was pink. Little did I know that I would go on to write a book about the struggle to dismantle some of the stereotypes that Muslim women face - and perhaps make people laugh with me along the way. I hope that people will enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
“I am genuinely excited that Biteback is publishing ‘My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil’ and feel honoured to be working with the BiteBack team.”
In the aftermath of the George Floyd killings and the Black Lives Matter protests, the “big five” UK publishing houses had separately acknowledged that “change is not happening fast enough”. They had re-emphasised that they must do a lot more to address racial inequalities in the books world, which was highlighted earlier by the recently formed Black Writers Guild. Recently Reni Eddo-Lodge became the first ever black Briton to top the UK book charts with her 2017 book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race.
Commenting on the Councillor’s forthcoming book, Olivia Beattie, Editorial Director at Biteback Publishing said, “Rabina’s proposal had us all hooked from the very first pages, where she writes with such grace and humour about her family’s experiences building a new life in Britain in the 1970s. Clear-sighted and often deeply affecting about the struggles facing Muslim women both then and now, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil is at its heart an inspiring story that will speak across the divides of age, race, class and religion about the power of building bridges, and the Biteback team are delighted to be publishing it.”
Khan currently serves as a Liberal Democrat councillor in Tower Hamlets and was the first Muslim woman to hold the portfolio for Housing and Regeneration.
Lauren Gardner has sold World English Rights for politician and campaigner Rabina Khan’s enlightening memoir My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil, to Olivia Beattie.
