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Discover poetry, interviews, fiction, and more, published by Wasafiri.

Extract: Even Time Bleeds by Jeanette L. Clariond, trans. by Forrest Gander
Read two poems in both Spanish and English from acclaimed Mexican writer Jeannette L. Clariond, translated by Pulitzer Prize–winner Forrest Gander from the forthcoming collection Even Time Bleeds.
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Scenes from October: Tribute for Zoë Wicomb by Kai Easton
In this moving tribute – with an accompanying visual travelogue spanning South Africa and Scotland – Kai Easton explores the legacy of late South African writer, Zoë Wicomb, reflecting especially on her relationship to photography.
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‘I Was Destined to Do This Nonsense’: Siddhartha Lokanandi on Hopscotch Reading Room
As part of our Writing the Self, Writing Berlin series, editorial intern Divya Ghelani spoke with Siddhartha Lokanandi, who runs Hopscotch Reading Room, a Berlin-based English-language bookshop he founded in 2017. A haven for the intellectual – and political – bibliophile, Hopscotch is regarded as ‘an outlier of a bookstore’ in both its home city and beyond, for its intentional centring of non-Western, anti-racist, Global South, and anti-colonial perspectives, as well as minor literatures.
Interviews
Towards an Embodied Resistance — Female Latinx Writers in Britain by Nathalie Teitler
Illustrated with her own personal experiences, Nathalie Teitler draws on the work of British Latinx writers Juana Adcock, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Patrizia Longhitano, and Marina Sánchez to explore the physicality of women's writing, migration, (dis)embodiment, pain, and more. This is an extract from the Lead Feature essay in Wasafiri 124: Presencia y Resistencia – British Latinx Writing & Art.  
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Lauri Kubuitsile on Writing War and Southern African Fiction
Wasafiri's Deputy Editor, Vamika Sinha, spoke to Botswana-based writer Lauri Kubuitsile about her novel, The Scattering — a work of historical fiction set against the backdrop of the Herero and Nama genocide and Second Anglo-Boer War in southern Africa. They discussed women's realities during war, Botswana's literary scene, and southern African writing more widely.
Interviews
Two Poems by Haia Mohammed
We are honoured to publish two new poems – 'Bird' and 'Just A Simple Life' – by Haia Mohammed, a 23-year-old poet from Khan Younis in Gaza, reflecting some of her experiences, pains, and dreams living through occupation and genocide. Haia is part of the first group of scholars to be successfully evacuated from Gaza to the UK. Her debut poetry pamphlet, The Age of Olive Trees, is out now.
Poetry
Extract: Palestine -1: Stories from the Eve of the Nakba
Read an exclusive extract from the newly-published anthology, Palestine - 1: Stories from the Eve of the Nakba, a collection of Palestinian writing using literary devices typically associated with the horror genre, edited by Basma Ghalayini. Titled 'I Swear, This All Happened', this magical realist short story by Liana Badr is set in a girls' boarding school in Jerusalem. It is translated by Maisa Almanasreh.
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Befriending the Forest by Selina Nwulu
Selina Nwulu unpacks the impetus behind her debut essay collection, Black Climates – 'an exploration of climate breakdown through the lens of the Black experience' – where mainstream discourse has inadequately addressed how marginalised peoples are affected by the climate crisis.
Nonfiction
Wasafiri Wonders: NoViolet Bulawayo
We spoke to the twice Booker-shortlisted Zimbabwean author, NoViolet Bulawayo – who recently won the Best of Caine Award – on her career trajectory, the force of literary prizes, writing life, and thoughts on the current African literary landscape.
Interviews
'The Mouth of a Gash, Sing It Like a Scream': Alton Melvar M Dapanas interviews Khairani Barokka
Khairani Barokka speaks to Alton Melvar M Dapanas on how her latest book Annah, Infinite reshapes speculative nonfiction, disrupts genre norms, and disputes the racial, gendered, and ableist biases of fraught literary and artistic spaces.
Interviews
Extract: Bad Language by So Mayer
Read an extract from So Mayer's forthcoming book, Bad Language, a blend of memoir and manifesto exploring the politics of speech, and how language has been used – and abused – collectively and in their own life. This extract is from a section titled 'Shibboleth' – 'a word that draws a border, and makes that border deadly' – in relation to the continued occupation of Palestine.
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An abstract painting in browns, yellows, reds, and blues.
The Misidentification of Bobo by Franklyn Usouwa
Franklyn Usouwa's acerbic short story from Wasafiri 123 is a satire set in an unnamed African country. Through a fictional character named Bobo, Usouwa critiques systems of censorship, repression, unbridled technological growth, and more.
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Berlin Writers in Conversation
As part of the Writing the Self, Writing Berlin series led by our CHASE intern Divya Ghelani, three writers based in Berlin – Rajeev Balasubramanyam, Vijay Khurana, and Deniz Utlu – sat down together this summer for a filmed conversation on topics ranging from Berlin's identity as a creative capital to immigration, translation politics, and more. Watch the conversation — exploring what it means to write in Berlin today.
Interviews
A crowd is shown from behind. The are moving down a street with tall buildings either side. There is a blue sky above.
Liberalism as Fascism’s Prefiguration by Abeera Khan
‘What becomes of gender and sexuality amidst the collapse of the liberal world order?’ In this essay, Dr Abeera Khan from SOAS, University of London’s Department of Gender Studies examines our current moment as one after homonationalism, where ‘the sparse and vanishing wages of inclusion lie exposed.’ 
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Wasafiri Wonders: Anton Hur
For this instalment of our Wasafiri  Wonders series, we spoke to 2025 International Booker Prize judge and our Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize judge for Fiction this year, Anton Hur, on his writing habits and rituals, the art of translation, and upcoming work.
Interviews
The Inaccurate Mirror by Leila Aboulela: PEN Pinter Prize 2025
We are honoured to publish Leila Aboulela's full acceptance speech for the PEN Pinter Prize 2025. Leila is a long-time friend of Wasafiri, having judged the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize in 2023. She named Stella Gaitano as Writer of Courage 2025.
Nonfiction
Extract – We Are Each Other's Liberation: Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities
We're delighted to share an exclusive extract from the forthcoming collection, We Are Each Other's Liberation: Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities, edited by Rachel Kuo, Jaimee A. Swift, and TD Tso. This extract is from an interview by Swift with Beverley Bryan and Stella Dadzie – founding members of the socialist and activist group, Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent – on the joys and difficulties of political organising across race, class, and gender.
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White background with black sketching of a moor
The Gift of Imaginative Rupture: Christina Sharpe in Conversation
In this extract from our autumn issue, Wasafiri 123, Christina Sharpe speaks to Guy Gunaratne about the origins behind her most recent work – Ordinary Notes – and the ways in which she draws from historical archives and visual art in her writing.
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Extract: The Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, trans. by Anton Hur
Read an extract from 'Why Does the Cat?', a short story from Bora Chung's latest collection, The Midnight Timetable, translated by Anton Hur, where a man is haunted by the ghost of his murder victim.
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Extract: Tibetan Sky by Ning Ken, trans. by Thomas Moran
Read an extract from Ning Ken's forthcoming novel Tibetan Sky – translated by Thomas Moran – a philosophical work of fiction about a disillusioned academic and the complex history of Tibet.
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Extract: No Is Not a Lonely Utterance by Sara Ahmed
Read an extract from Sara Ahmed's forthcoming book, No is Not a Lonely Utterance: The Art and Activism of Complaining – on the various ways in which we can engage in complaint, refusal, and resistance with our dignity – including whistle-blowing, song, language, protest, and more.
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A New Direction for Literature: An Interview with Deepa Bhasthi and Banu Mushtaq
Wasafiri Deputy Editor and writer, Vamika Sinha, spoke with 2025 International Booker Prize winners Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi (Wasafiri's inaugural International Translator in Residence) at a live event at Waterstones Islington, London. Read their wide-ranging conversation, where they explored what went into writing, compiling, and producing their winning collection, Heart Lamp.
InterviewsTranslator in Residence
On (Mis)Translation and the Vein of Resistance by Khairani Barokka
Using the term 'amuk' as her starting point, Khairani Barokka roots out the violences in colonial mistranslation, weaving in disability justice and personal experience in this extract from Wasafiri 123.
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Cameras and Community: Photographing UAE's Creatives by Myriam Louise Taleb
In this photo essay, multimedia artist Myriam Louise Taleb elaborates on her evolving relationship to photography through memories of family photo albums, shooting in the UAE's private vs public spaces, and trying to find a sense of belonging in the country's creative scene.
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