Camilla Balshaw on NAMED: A Story of Names and Reclaiming Who We Are
What happens when the name you've carried your whole life doesn't feel like your own?
Join debut author Camilla Balshaw as she presents her provocative memoir Named: A Story of Names and Reclaiming Who We Are, a personal investigation into the power behind the labels we carry and what happens when they don't fit.
Carrying a name that has taken her from a childhood growing up in Luton to an accidental singing career in Tokyo, to her current home in Norfolk, coincidentally close to the Sandringham residence of her namesake, Queen Camilla, Camilla explores the journey of a name and why our names matter.
From the bureaucratic power of legal labels to the quiet rebellions of renaming, Camilla examines identity, belonging, and reinvention through the lens of the names that shape us. Her journey spans continents and decades, revealing how a simple collection of letters can carry the weight of family history, cultural expectations, and personal dreams.
In conversation with writer Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou, Camilla will discuss the story behind her own name, journeying into issues of identity and belonging, migration and nationhood, family and selfhood. Together they'll explore why names matter in our increasingly fluid world and what it means to truly claim who we are.

The ‘stream and book’ package includes a unique ticket for the stream, and a copy of NAMED: A Story of Names and Reclaiming Who We Are (RRP £18.99) deliverable to any UK or international address.
The event will initially be broadcast on 21 August at 6.30pm UK time. It will be available to view up to two weeks after the event has ended and can be accessed Worldwide. If you live in a time zone that does not suit the initial broadcast time you can watch it at any point after the initial showing for two weeks.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].