This life writing piece by @danisalvadori.bsky.social is a work of prose-poetry about the 'menoflân' – an older, menopausal flâneuse – moving through a ceaseless, beating city such as London, where 'the grammar of the city is movement'.
Join our Writer in Residence, Cara Thompson, for a truly unique creative writing experience in Nottingham’s historic City of Caves. The session will combine a history and poetry tour, weaving together the site’s fascinating past with creative writing exercises.
2 May, 10am-1pm
£5
We are delighted to share that Sudanese American poet Safia Elhillo is our new International Writer in Residence from April-Sept 2026.
During her residency, Safia will lead two online workshops in September on the theme of Global Solidarities.
👀 Details for the workshops TBA
Fantastic event coming up Bard Books on 19 May to celebrate the latest issue of @wasafirimag.bsky.social!
www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...
Black and white photo of trees in front of mountains in Mauritius. Underneath is the headline of the piece: A Reckoning: Gender Violence in Mauritian Life and Literature by Ariel Saramandi
In this unflinching essay, Ariel Saramandi explores and decries the patriarchal abuses of power behind the Mauritian literary scene, centring Nathacha Appanah's groundbreaking book, LA NUIT AU COEUR, and her and other Mauritian women writers' engagements with violence against them.
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Orange background with black text in centre that reads: ‘Judging a prize is always a journey, or several journeys, into the unknown. I am excited to find out what writers around the world are asking, telling, showing. At a time when so much of our world is in crisis, I’m looking for stories of hope, resistance, love, and joy.’ Ellah Wakatama
Orange background with black text in centre that reads: ‘I am looking forward to reading stories that enlighten, engage, and entertain in ways we don’t see often in fiction. Over the years, this prize has provided a much-needed platform for emerging writers to showcase their talent.’ Santanu Bhattacharya
Orange background with black text in centre that reads: ‘I hope that it manages to some extent to have us feel present and side-by-side with the writer as events or epiphanies are unfolding rather than following in the writer's wake as they retell their memories and wisdom over their shoulder. Memoir for me isn’t a diary or a reporting of “facts” for posterity, it's a letter to oneself and the reader simultaneously.’ Jen Calleja
Orange background with black text in centre that reads: ‘I am looking for poems that criss-cross the personal and the political, betraying formalism and contaminating English. Poems that distil, name, emerge, roar, and agitate.’ Mona Kareem
Our 2026 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize judges share what they're looking for in the entries — whether it's poems that roar or stories that enlighten or texts meant to agitate.
Submissions to the prize are open until 30 June.
Enter here: buff.ly/MnYp7xY
The Wasafiri Essay Prize – awarded to innovative academic essays on contemporary literature – is changing this year.
Winners will now be chosen by our editorial team and world-class Associate Editors from eligible articles published in Wasafiri each year.
Revised guidelines here:
Read three poems by Kazi Neel, written in unnamed dialects from the chars (temporary unstable river-islands) in Assam, India, translated into English by Shalim M Hussain.
The poems are presented both in their original script and in English, with an accompanying translator's note.
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I enjoyed recording this. With the story, I tried to capture how French colonial soldiers developed a subversive lingua franca that registered as broken to imperial ears
Gambian writer @mlkejera.bsky.social reads from his short story, ‘Anciens Combattants', published in our latest issue, Wasafiri 125. This sharp piece of postcolonial fiction mixes the two colonial tongues of English and French to engages with the legacy of the Thiaroye massacre.
Hi Layla!
We accept fiction, poetry, and life writing for the prize — and the word count is up to 3,000 words. Full details here: www.wasafiri.org/writing-priz...
In this moving short story by Jaden Morton, a young person grows up in rural Norfolk with their family, slowly casting off the alienating binds of boyhood towards a different gender and identity, the eroding coastline an ever-present part of their narrative.
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Friends in Cheltenham! The poetry festival opens tonight, and I have the honour of kicking things off, with David Punter, and we'll be in conversation with the BBC's Jo Durrant. We'll be at St Pauls's Church from 7pm, a few tickets left. Come along! cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk
Thanks for sharing!
Join us for a conversation on contemporary African and Afro-diasporic writing with Sulaiman Addonia, Brian Chikwava, Shady Lewis, and Fiston Mwanza Mujila and his translator @rolandglasser.bsky.social – chaired by Irenosen Okojie – at Bard Books in East London.
Pale blue background. Heading in black: Introducing our 2026 Translator in Residence. Underneath to the left is more black text: Poet, translator, and editor Juana Adcock works with the endangered languages Mè’phàà (Tlapanec) and Tu'un Savi (Western Baja Mixtec), spoken in Guerrero, Mexico. To the left is a black and white photo in a white frame. It shows a woman looking straight into the camera. She has short-cropped hair and long twirly silver earrings. She wears a dark v-neck jumper. Underneath is her name: Juana Adcock.
We are thrilled to share that the poet, translator, and editor @juanapoetry.bsky.social is our new Translator in Residence – Endangered Languages from April-September 2026. Juana works with Mè’phàà (Tlapanec) and Tu'un Savi (Western Baja Mixtec), spoken in Mexico.
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One of the best commissions of my career has been for @wasafirimag.bsky.social - can't recommend them enough
In this time of rising fascism and anti-Muslim sentiment, Anu Khosla takes a close look at three books that explore Hindutva and its violent effects in India — the novels QUARTERLIFE by Devika Rege and SARASWATI by Gurnaik Johal, and Zara Chowdhary's memoir THE LUCKY ONES.
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Purple background. Header in white: All the Gifts: Remembering Maryse Condé by Thomas Glave. Bottom right corner is a black and white photo of Maryse. She is looking into the camera and smiling, while holding one hand casually to her side. She wears a dark coloured top and cardigan.
Purple background. White text: ‘I fortunately happened upon the novels of Maryse Condé. The discovery gradually, and then with palpable force, revealed how very little I actually knew of “the Caribbean”, especially the particularities and nuances of what many people in the French- and Creole-speaking lands referred to as les antilles …’
![Purple background. White text: ‘Condé’s novels [...] revealed that the entire archipelago bore witness to the regional weather’s tantrums and churlishness. The hurricane over Guadeloupe one day might begin to snarl over Jamaica or Cuba (or both) the next, just as the droughts that crawled in on their skeletal legs, breathing their white dust over every green living thing, moved from them to us to everyone.’](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:a2t3meyjdmklgdelpzkg7kxv/bafkreidjlovuxkc5yhhi3ybrtekjz765pve5kh7ycdq64e6pmaf7ebmcmq)
Purple background. White text: ‘Condé’s novels [...] revealed that the entire archipelago bore witness to the regional weather’s tantrums and churlishness. The hurricane over Guadeloupe one day might begin to snarl over Jamaica or Cuba (or both) the next, just as the droughts that crawled in on their skeletal legs, breathing their white dust over every green living thing, moved from them to us to everyone.’
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the death of Maryse Condé – the celebrated Guadeloupean author of over 30 books exploring colonialism, identity, and the voices of women and the African diaspora.
Thomas Glave has written a moving piece in remembrance in our latest issue.
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Thank you! So glad you like the issue.
Two recommendations from this issue of @wasafirimag.bsky.social, it is a very good one. This time a fantastic essay from Anshuman A Mondal about…well, about reality and and ways of thinking that delight me, nodded so much my head nearly fell off. Deeply brilliant. “the ethics of erasure”
🌟We are now open for creative submissions! 🌟
Send us your best fiction or nonfiction — we welcome innovative creative writing that in form, focus, or theme seeks to expand the boundaries of global literary culture.
DEADLINE: Midnight BST, 1 May 2026
Orange background. Cream header reads: FAQ. Cream and black text reads: How much does it cost to enter the prize? £12 for a single entry, £16 for a double entry, and £6 for a single subsidised entry. What evidence do I need to provide for subsidised entry? None! Simply choose that option on checkout. What is the word limit for entries? 3,000 words. For poetry: maximum three poems per entry, totalling no more than 3,000 words.
Orange background. Cream and black text reads: More questions? Email us at wasafirinewwritingprize@qmul.ac.uk
Thinking of entering the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize?
Here are some frequently asked questions about entering. If you have further queries, see the full terms and conditions on our website, or drop us a line on the email provided.
We look forward to reading your entries!
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Tremendous piece in the current @wasafirimag.bsky.social by @mlkejera.bsky.social “Anciens Combattants”. I will now have to find everything else he’s ever written, as is my wont. Highly recommended, as is the magazine of course
In a poem – shortlisted for the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize – written and self-translated from the Polish, ariel rosé reimagines Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST on their remote island in companionable togetherness — with added touches of modernity.
So glad you like it! Do check out our YouTube for more author readings! www.youtube.com/@wasafiri658...
Isn't it!
Novelist Santanu Bhattacharya is the Fiction judge for the 2026 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize. In this essay, he shares his guidance on staying true to the global majority story you want to tell, based off his own experiences and reflections as a published author.
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