Shayarix at 07:50, 18 February 2026

2026-02-18T07:50:59Z

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{{Short description|British-Indian writer and activist (born 1941)}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
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| birth_name =
| birth_place = India
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1941}}
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| occupation = Writer, journalist and activist
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| notable_works = ''Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain'' (1978)
| website =
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'''Amrit Wilson''' (born 1941)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/biographies/42835354/amrit-wilson|title=Amrit Wilson|work=Women of Substance: Profiles of Asian Women in the UK|date=1997|page=152|via= EBSCOhost}}{{dead link|date=November 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> is a British-Indian<ref name=MediaDiversified>{{cite web|url=https://mediadiversified.org/2019/01/17/south-asian-women-in-britain-finding-a-voice-40-years-on/|title=South Asian women in Britain: Finding a voice, 40 years on|website=[[Media Diversified]]|date=17 January 2019|accessdate=13 September 2020}}</ref> writer, journalist and activist who since the 1970s has focused on issues of race and gender in Britain and South Asian politics.<ref name=galdem>{{cite web|url=https://gal-dem.com/collective-past-amrit-wilson-reflects-anti-racist-feminist-work/|title='Reclaiming our collective past': Amrit Wilson reflects on 40 years of anti-racist feminist work|website=[[gal-dem]]|first=Sophia|last= Siddiqui|date=30 October 2018|accessdate=13 September 2020}}</ref> Her 1978 book ''Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain''<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030639687802000203|title=A burning fever: the isolation of Asian women in Britain|journal=[[Race & Class]]|volume= 20|issue =2| date=1 October 1978|doi=10.1177/030639687802000203|last1=Wilson|first1=Amrit|pages=129–142|s2cid=145473127|url-access=subscription}}</ref> won the Martin Luther King Award, and remains an influential feminist book.<ref name=MediaDiversified /> Her other book publications include ''Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain'' (London: [[Pluto Press]], 2006), and as a journalist she has been published in outlets including ''Ceasefire Magazine'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/author/amrit-wilson/|title=Amrit Wilson|magazine=Ceasefire|accessdate=13 September 2020}}</ref> ''[[Media Diversified]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediadiversified.org/category/amrit-wilson/|title=Category: Amrit Wilson|website=Media Dversified|date=16 July 2015 |accessdate=13 September 2020}}</ref> [[openDemocracy]]<ref name=OD>{{cite web|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/author/amrit-wilson/|title=Amrit Wilson|website=Open Democracy|date=22 July 2020 }}</ref> and ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ihrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IC2017speakerbios.pdf|title=Speaker bios|publisher=Islamophobia Conference 2017: The Rise of Nativism}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/amrit-wilson|title=Amrit Wilson|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>

==Background==
Wilson grew up in India and came to Britain as a student in 1961. She became a freelance journalist in 1974, and was active as an anti-racist militant in the 1970s.<ref name="Donnell2002">{{cite book|editor-link=Alison Donnell|editor-first=Alison |editor-last=Donnell|title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&pg=PA323-4|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-70025-7|pages=323–4|chapter=Seth, Roshan}}</ref> Wilson's book ''Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain'', first published in 1978 and reprinted 40 years later,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ihrc.org.uk/activities/event-reports/20653-event-report-finding-a-voice-asian-women-in-britain/|title=Event Report – 'Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain'|publisher=Islamic Human Rights Commission|date=6 March 2019}}</ref> has been described as "[c]hallenging the views of South Asian women as weak, submissive, one-dimensional stereotypes" and as having "cleared the space for Asian women to speak for themselves".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/finding-a-voice-asian-women-in-britain/|title= Review – Finding a Voice: Asian women in Britain|magazine=[[Red Pepper (magazine)|Red Pepper]]|first=Maya|last=Goodfellow|date=8 June 2019|accessdate=7 October 2020}}</ref> Wilson was a founder member of Awaz, the UK's first Asian feminist collective, and was active in [[OWAAD]], the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent (1978–82).<ref name=galdem /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/people/amrit-wilson|title=Amrit Wilson|publisher=[[British Library]]}}</ref> She was formerly chair of [[Imkaan]], a national network of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee women's refuges and services for women facing violence, and is a founder member of South Asia Solidarity Group.<ref name=OD /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://strikeatimperial.net/amrit-wilson|title=Amrit Wilson|website=The Strike at Imperial Typewriters|accessdate=13 September 2020|archive-date=15 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615224609/https://strikeatimperial.net/amrit-wilson|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She also was Senior Lecturer in Women's Studies/South Asian Studies at [[Luton University]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.plutobooks.com/author/amrit-wilson/|title=Amrit Wilson|publisher=Pluto Press}}</ref> and has carried an [[Overseas Citizenship of India]] (OCI).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-23 |title=Hearing adjourned in journalist's revision plea on cancelled OCI card |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/hearing-adjourned-in-journalists-revision-plea-on-cancelled-oci-card-8623705/ |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>

In April 2024, Wilson revealed that she had had her OCI card withdrawn by the Indian government and is unable to travel to India after having been accused of "anti-India activities" and "detrimental propaganda against India."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barnett |first=Marcus |date=2024-04-26 |title=Solidarity With Amrit Wilson |url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/04/solidarity-with-amrit-wilson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506231600/https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/04/solidarity-with-amrit-wilson |archive-date=2024-05-06 |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
* ''Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain'' (1978; second edition Daraja Press, 2019, {{ISBN|978-1988832012}})
* ''The Challenge Road: Women and the Eritrean Revolution'' ([[The Red Sea Press]], 1991, {{ISBN|978-0932415714}})
* ''Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain'' (London: [[Pluto Press]], 2006; {{ISBN|9780745318479}})
* ''The Threat of Liberation'' (Pluto Press, 2013; {{ISBN|9781849649407}})

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Amrit}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:20th-century British journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century British women journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:British women activists]]
[[Category:Indian activists]]
[[Category:Indian women academics]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Indian women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People who lost Indian citizenship]]
[[Category:People with Overseas Citizenship of India]]

Amrit Wilson - Revision history

Shayarix at 07:50, 18 February 2026