Sabba Khan’s “striking” and “impeccable” debut, The Roles We Play, has won the Jhalak prize for best book by a writer of colour, becoming the first graphic novel to win the award. The children’s and young adult prize, meanwhile, was awarded to Maisie Chan for her “warm and funny” children’s novel Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths, illustrated by Anh Cao.
In The Roles We Play, Khan, a second-generation Azad Kashmiri, explores what identity, belonging and memory mean for her and for her family, who were among the people displaced from Mirpur in Azad Kashmir when it was submerged by the waters of a dam built after partition. Approximately 70% of Pakistanis in Britain can trace their roots back to Mirpur.
