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In this exclusive life writing excerpt from Wasafiri 120: Armenia(n)s – Elevation, Sylvia Alajaji explores the emotional, historical, and cultural nuances of Armenian diasporic existence, interweaving personal memories with collective ongoing struggles, and drawing on music as a medium of cultural preservation and identity.

We spoke to co-guest editors Tatevik Ayvazyan and Naneh V Hovhannisyan about curating, commissioning, and editing our winter 2024 special issue, Wasafiri 120: Armenian(s) – Elevation, which shines a light on modern Armenian identities and experiences. Alongside personal stories of love, loss, and memory, the volume speaks to current global issues – displacement, fragmentation, and conflict — all with eloquence, and all, ultimately, for elevation. 

Angelique Golding – a PhD student on the Wasafiri archives, based at Queen Mary University of London – leads us on an enlightening journey through Wasafiri’s history, trajectory, editorial strategy, and vision over forty years.

In this exclusive extract from Wasafiri 119: Futurisms, our Associate Editor So Mayer interviews Kaliane Bradley and Anton Hur about their recently published debut novels. They discuss narration and translation, the climate crisis and the erotic, and much more.

In this moving and revealing essay, writer and translator Anton Hur brings his trademark wit to reflect on the 'earthquake' moment of Han Kang winning the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature and comment on literary prize cultures.

We're delighted to share two poems by José Buera to mark the publication of our our 40th Anniversary Issue, Wasafiri 119: Futurisms. These poems explore dystopian futures – and the tensions between humanity, alienation, and machine – through hauntingly beautiful descriptions. Wasafiri 119: Futurisms is available to order now, or you can purchase the Wasafiri anniversary bundle, giving you deep insight into the history and trajectory of the magazine and literary landscape across four decades.

In this exclusive excerpt from Wasafiri 119: Futurisms, Professor Madhu Krishnan details the current problems and precarities within our education systems, and how we might begin to de- and re-construct the idea of the University. You can read and download the full piece online for free during the month of October, or read it in the print issue of Wasafiri 119: Futurisms, which is available to purchase via our website.

Wasafiri is pleased to share 'Sex Sonnet' by Zeina Hashem Beck, a poem specially commissioned to mark the publication of Wasafiri 119: Futurisms, our 40th Anniversary Issue. Wasafiri 119: Futurisms is available to order now, or you can purchase the Wasafiri anniversary bundle, giving you deep insight into the history and trajectory of the magazine and literary landscape across four decades.

For our 40th Anniversary Issue, titled and themed around ‘Futurisms’, it is with great pride that we feature Chila Burman’s ‘The Smile You Send Returns to You’ on our cover. We asked our Art Editor, Professor Leon Wainwright from The Open University, to provide a deeper understanding of how Burman’s work continues to inspire and provoke thought — encouraging us to envision a future shaped by the stories and struggles of the past. 

This exclusive extract from our autumn issue, Wasafiri 119: Futurisms, is an exploration of the synergy between writers and dreamers, and a deep dive into our dreams — both our ‘sleep-dreams’, and those that provide our vision for the future.

Here, Teresa Cherukara reflects on the misconceptions and outsider perceptions surrounding the Gulf, emphasising the complex and multifaceted experiences of the South-Asian diaspora who live there.

Maya Caspari, Wasafiri's Associate Editor, spoke with them in early July 2024.

In this exclusive extract from Wasafiri 118: Abolitions - Writing Against Abandonment, Hilal Chouman – translated by Caline Nasrallah – explores themes of memory, grief, and the passage of time through two people's relationship to each other — weaving together personal moments with broader, unexplained phenomena, and creating a sense of mystery and unresolved tension. 

In this exclusive extract from Wasafiri 118: Abolitions - Writing Against Abandonment, Marral Shamshiri interviews Dr Mahvish Ahmad, Dr Koni Benson, and Dr Hana Morgenstern of the Revolutionary Papers, who discuss the importance of mobilising communities and connecting historical and contemporary radical archives to ongoing liberation struggles, all whilst looking at them through an anti-colonical lens.

Ahead of our launch event on 4 July, we spoke to co-guest editors Farhaana Arefin and Dr Abeera Khan about curating, commissioning, and editing Wasafiri 118: Abolitions - Writing Against Abandonment.

Wasafiri is proud to publish the 2023 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize shortlisted pieces. These poems, essays, and short stories detail a range of emotions and experiences, produced by promising new writers from all over the globe. This shortlisted poem by Laura Jane Lee depicts the complicated emotions of leaving home.

Wasafiri is proud to publish the 2023 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize shortlisted pieces. These poems, essays, and short stories detail a range of emotions and experiences, produced by promising new writers from all over the globe. In this fictional piece by Andrea Gissdal, the narrator's obsession with the harmful and toxic effects of mobile phones is depicted through her husband's infidelity. 

Wasafiri is proud to publish the 2023 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize shortlisted pieces. These poems, essays, and short stories detail a range of emotions and experiences, produced by promising new writers from all over the globe. In this life writing piece, Mica Montana Gray reconstructs family history through memories and stories, highlighting the importance of honouring and remembering one's past as a bridge to the present.

Wasafiri is proud to publish the 2023 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize shortlisted pieces. These poems, essays, and short stories detail a range of emotions and experiences, produced by promising new writers from all over the globe. In this life writing piece, Madeleine Ballard portrays the tenderness and the careful navigation of a mother daughter relationship.

This intimate fictional piece by Dushi Rasiah depicts the narrator's uncertainties, family secrets, and her own sense of identity culminating in a shared moment of compromise. 

Originally published in Wasafiri 118: Abolitions — Writing Against Abandonment, this piece of life writing, translated by Roba AlSalibi, powerfully deconstructs the themes of humanisation, freedom of Palestinian prisoners and people, and the abolition of prisons altogether.

Wasafiri is pleased to share this poem by Amara Amaryah, whose work was published in our spring issue Wasafiri 117: The State of the Industry. The hurtling sentences build up a kaleidoscope of images about the places we ‘strand ourselves’ in and make our own.

In this short story, Eve Newstead intertwines themes of family, care, love, childhood, self harm, and body image to capture a tender moment.

In this rallying piece Meena Kandasamy – Poetry judge for the 2024 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize – traces her own journey as a writer, and sheds light on the importance of authenticity in poetry. She also talks about the types of poems that inspire her and what she is looking for in this year’s submissions.