CHASING FREEDOM, coming of age at the end of empire

334pp., hardback, d.w., Bodley Head, London, 2026

ISBN: 9781847927194

In his compelling debut, a blend of memoir, family story and political history, Simakai Chigudu writes about growing up in Zimbabwe shortly after the end of colonial rule, and how his family's traumatic experiences during the struggle for freedom and their relocation to England served to unravel his understanding of the world, his parents, and himself.

"Masterful. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which the legacies of empire ricochet through the generations" Aminatta Forna, author of The Devil That Danced on the Water

"A complicated, engrossing and, ultimately, brilliant portrait of a family navigating the minefields of the postcolonial world" Jonny Steinberg, author of Winnie and Nelson

Simukai Chigudu (b. 1986) is Associate Professor of African Politics at the University of Oxford and a fellow of St. Antony’s College. He was previously a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. In 2015 he was one of the founding members of 'Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford', a campaign to decolonize the university and remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College.