The Roles We Play (Paperback)

Winner of the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour 2022

'Where is home, Mum?'

From the foothills of the Himalayas in the Kashmiri valleys to bustling Green Street in East London, Sabba Khan researches her identity from the global to the local, covering partition, displacement, and assimilation with humour and courage.

Two-thirds of today's British Pakistani diaspora trace their origins back to Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, a district that saw mass displacement and migration when it was submerged by the waters of a dam built after Partition. Sabba Khan's debut graphic memoir explores what identity, belonging and memory mean for her and her family against the backdrop of this history.

As a second generation Azad Kashmiri migrant in East London, Khan paints a vivid snapshot of contemporary British Asian life and investigates the complex shifts experienced by different generations within migrant communities, creating an uplifting and universal story that crosses borders and decades.

Race, gender and class are brought to the forefront in a simple and personal narrative, illuminated by an eloquent minimal style and architectural page design. Khan asks how religion and secularism, tradition and trend, heritage and progression can move toward a common space of love and understanding?