Alexandros's first book, Made by Sea and Wood, in Darkness, a novel-in-stories about the lives of a small group of Egyptian fishermen in Greece, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. His short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net, and were published in US, UK, Indian and Canadian magazines and anthologies. He has a PhD in ethnography-based Creative Writing, and undertakes another one in Refugee Publishing & Libraries.
www.alexandrosplasatis.com |
Rubina was born in Albania just after the fall of the country’s Communist regime and grew up through a chaotic political scene that has shaped her passion for writing and ensuring the right stories are told. She then immigrated to the UK where she completed a first class degree in Creative Writing and Journalism. Since then she has worked as an interpreter for asylum seekers as well as participating in writing projects in marginalised communities.
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Asiye is a 21-year-old refugee based in Glasgow, Scotland. She’s passionate about community interactions and poetry. She likes reading and drinking tea with her friends. She studies Theology at the University of Glasgow.
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Malka Al-Haddad is the author of The Truth at the End of the Night (Palewell Press, 2023) and Birds Without Sky: Poems from exile (Harriman House, 2018). Her debut collection, was longlisted for the Leicester Book of the Year award 2018. Malka grew up during the Iran-Iraq war and lost several close family members during the first Gulf War and American invasion in 2003. Malka has attained an MA in Politics of Conflict and Violence from The University of Leicester. She previously taught Arabic Literary Criticism at Kufa University in Iraq. She is now an ambassador for City of Sanctuary in the UK.
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poetry editor ⌯ Amir Darwish
Amir is a British Syrian poet & writer of Kurdish origin who lives in London. Born in Aleppo in 1979, he came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 2003. His work has been published and anthologised worldwide and translated into numerous languages. He was part of several radio programmes, including BBC 4 and BBC World Service. Amir was invited and attended literary and poetry festivals worldwide. His two collections of poetry are Dear Refugee (Smokestack, 2019) & Don’t Forget the Couscous (Smokestack, 2015).
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Maria was born in Lisbon and educated in Portugal and the UK. She is Associate Professor in Sociology at the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, UK. She has research interests in cosmopolitanism, new activisms, citizenship, migrant and refugee arts, and visual culture. Among her recent publications are Taking the Square: Mediated Dissent and Occupations of Public Space (2016) and Visual politics in the Global South (2023). She is currently writing a book on cosmopolitanism, art and the political imagination.
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Eli came to the UK in 2014, and after completing her BA in Education and Social Services, she was employed by Scottish Refugee Council as a caseworker for four years where the majority of her clients were newly granted refugees. Currently she works at IMIX as their community outreach officer and tries to empower people with lived experience of seeking sanctuary, to share their positive stories in the media.
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Mike is British/Australian. Of Irish descent, he also has an Irish passport. He migrated to Australia with his family in 1989, returning to the UK in 2000. Having experienced both migration and return migration enriched his research focus on language and migration with personal experience. Now retired from the University of Leeds he is engaged in a range of performance activities, translating poetry and writing his own poetry. He was awarded second prize in the Stephen Spender Poetry Translation Prize 2023 for his translation of a poem by the Moroccan zejel poet Adil Latefi. He is preparing with Jiyar Homer a translation of a selection of poems by the Kurdish poet Dilawar Karadaghi to be published by Arc in September 2024.
'other tongue, mother tongue' editor ⌯ Lina Fadel
Lina grew up in Syria and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2006. She has a PhD in Languages and Intercultural Studies, and is currently Assistant Professor in Research Methods at the School of Social Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. Lina’s lived experience of migration and work with marginalised communities seeps into both her academic work and creative writing. She’s interested in representations and autoethnographies of migration, and migrants' and refugees’ sense of home, identity and belonging. In her work, Lina advocates for the power of narrative and voice in healing and building strong and inclusive multicultural communities.
'other tongue, mother tongue' editor ⌯ Mahima Kaur
Mahima grew up in India and taught English Literature in the University of Delhi for a brief period before moving to London. She has since then engaged with multiple creative fields - writing, art and journalism, refusing to be tied down by the narratives and discourses set down for her by others. She often earns the ire of people because of her unrelenting words.
design & art direction ⌯ Olivier Llouquet
Olivier is a French visual ethnographer, designer and filmmaker, based in Nottingham. He studied in Freie Universität Berlin and conducted a year-long ethnographic research in Leicester, engaging with refugees and asylum seekers through creative projects and filmmaking.
editorial assistant & submissions manager ⌯ Grace Cowie
Grace is a Knowledge and Research Manager based in Staffordshire. In 2022, she completed her BA in Spanish and English Literature at the University of Reading. During this time, Grace spent a year of study at the Universidad de Oviedo, studying modules in linguistics and Spanish literature and language. She is passionate about publishing, and in her spare time likes reading and taking her dog on adventures.
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project consultant ⌯ Isabel Medem
Isabel is an energetic and creative entrepreneur with more than ten years of experience in the social innovation sector. Having won prizes by Forbes 30 Under 30 as well as MIT Technology Review, Isabel is especially interested in strategy, leadership and change management within organisations. She has an MSc in Gender Studies and in Business Management, speaks four languages and has been calling London her home for three years now. Isabel currently works for an organisation in the humanitarian innovation sector, and is active in multiple side projects concerned with social justice and storytelling. In her free time, Isabel loves playing tennis, swimming (surfing, when she still lived in Peru), movies and hanging out with friends.
social media & communications ⌯ Laura Racioppi
Laura, Italian native with a background in International Relations, advocates for inclusivity and equality. As the Director of S.P.R.A.R., she managed a project supporting refugees, emphasising programs for integration into Italian life. As a Cultural Mediator, she enhanced the educational experience for Roma children, conducted workshops, and addressed discrimination through annual reports. As a Volunteer Coordinator at CLEAR (City Life Education and Action for Refugees) in Southampton, she recruits and manages volunteers, contributes to policy development, and leads social media efforts. Laura is dedicated to amplifying the voices of asylum seekers and refugees worldwide.
translations advisory boardAbhirami S (Tamil & Marathi); Anne Philip Collins (Gujarati); Annie Liones Nguyen (Vietnamese); Asiye Betül (Turkish); Aslandek Dadaev (Chechen & Ingush); Atar J Hadari (Hebrew); B. Anne Adriaens (Dutch); Bänoo Zan (Persian); Barlow Crassmont (Croatian & Bosnian); Ebele Mogo (Igbo & Nigerian Pidgin English); Edward Gunawan (Indonesian); Emine Sheykhametova (Tatar); Eric Abalajon (Filipino, Hiligaynon & Kinaray-a); Filippa N. Johansen (Danish); Gabriel Awuah Mainoo (Twi & Eʋe); Gabriele Uboldi (Italian); H.T. Brickner (Mandarin); Ildegrada da Costa Cabral (Portuguese); James Garza (Japanese); Janneke Adema (Frisian); Jiyar Homer (Kurdish); Kari-Lee Grant (Jamaican Creole); Kasia Kokowska (Polish); Kayode Gomes (Yoruba); Khanyi Gumpo (SiNdebele); Lena Rissmann (German); Lester Gómez Medina (Spanish); Lina Fadel (Arabic); Madalena Daleziou (Greek); Mahima Kaur (Hindi & Punjabi); Maryna Krazhova (Belarusian, Ukrainian & Russian); Masimba Musodza (ChiShona); Moossa Casseem (Mauritian Creole); Mumo Liku (Kiikamba & Swahili); Nabeela Ahmed (Pahari); Rifat Mahbub (Bangla); Roxana Cazan (Romanian); Rubina Bala (Albanian); Sophie Buchaillard (French); Syed Muhammad Hassan Zaidi (Panjabi, Urdu script); Tara Goldsmith (Serbian & Montenegrin); Tim Tim Cheng (Cantonese); Timea Sipos (Hungarian); Usman Mahar (Urdu); Votey Cheav (Khmer); Yin F Lim (Malay).
previous staff
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2022-2023 video editor ⌯ Parang Khezri
2022 social media ⌯ Judy Qeis 2021 fiction editor ⌯ Hansa Dasgupta |
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