Description
Anita Bhalla’s life is a remarkable story of courage, conviction, and transformation. Her memoir Though She Be But Little She Is Fierce is both a love letter to Birmingham and a testament to her tireless pursuit of social reform. Before leading a BBC radio network, Bhalla was a passionate community worker, for women’s rights and anti-racism activist who fought the far-right National Front. Crossing from activism into broadcasting, she became one of the first Asian presenters on British television, later reporting as the BBC’s Community Affairs correspondent—giving a voice to those too often unheard.
In a newsroom dominated by men, she broke barriers with talent and tenacity, delivering major stories while facing prejudice with wit and dignity. After her broadcasting career, Bhalla channelled her energy into the arts, education, and leadership reform across the West Midlands, shaping civic life with the same passion that drove her journalism. Currently Chair of Birmingham City University she is driving an ambition for an education which transforms lives, which is relevant and jobs orientated. Anita is no stranger to Higher Education having been Vice-Chair of Council at the University of Warwick.
Her memoir also reveals the private Anita—the young girl from Kenya who arrived in 1960s Birmingham, balancing two cultures while embracing her new city. From psychedelic trouser suits to picket lines, her story radiates warmth, optimism, and grit. Like her mother—whom she so admires—Anita Bhalla is indeed “little, but fierce.”
