Alexandra Magearu is a writer, literary scholar and visual artist. Born and raised in Romania, she now lives in Cleveland (Ohio, USA) where she teaches in the English Department at Case Western Reserve University. Her writing has been published in The Comparatist, Tint Journal, World Literature Today, Women’s Studies, and two philosophy book collections, Ecosophical Aesthetics and Phenomenology of the Broken Body.
Alice Attie is Syrian American academic, visual artist and poet. Attie traveled to Aleppo, home of her four grandparents, in 2011, just as the war began. She continues to make artwork addressing the Syrian tragedy and broader questions of migration and displacement. Her book, Under the Aleppo Sun, was published by Seagull Books in 2018. Attie holds a PhD in Comparative Literature. Her artworks are in many collections, including: MOMA and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Alice Motta is a physical theatre actor based in London, who explores themes of self-discovery, migration, body freedom, and sexuality. In 2023, she won a competition on Mental Health Awareness week and was published at the Poem Stellium website. She was also published in two anthologies in Brazil. For the second consecutive year, she will be a headliner at the Newham Poetry Festival and as a result, have her poems printed on their booklet.
Alison Hramiak is a part time poet and part time teacher educator living and working in Yorkshire. She has written poems from an early age and has been published in several Forward Poetry anthologies, New Contexts 4, and also on various web sites such as Dirigible Balloon, Impspired and The Causley Trust. She blogs about poetry at Sunday Mornings at the River and for the Sheffield Institute of Education. She reviews and edits poetry, and poetry anthologies, and has recently started performing at open mic sessions including at the Huddersfield Literature Festival.
Ambrose Musiyiwa is a poet and a journalist with a background in the intersection between activism, migration and community action. He coordinates Journeys in Translation, an international, volunteer-driven initiative that is translating Over Land, Over Sea: Poems for those seeking refuge (Five Leaves Publications, 2015) into other languages. Books he has edited include Welcome to Britain: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (CivicLeicester, 2023), Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (CivicLeicester, 2020), and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (CivicLeicester, 2019).
Ana Doina, a Romanian-born American writer living in New Jersey, she left Romania during the Ceausescu regime. Her poems appeared in numerous print and online magazines, anthologies, and textbooks. She won Honorable Mention in the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards for Poems on the Jewish Experience contest in 2007, and three of her poems were nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Her chapbook, The Later Generation, is scheduled for publication by Alabaster Leaves/Kelsay Books in 2024.
Andrea Damic, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, lives and works in Sydney, Australia. She’s an amateur photographer and author of poetry and prose. Being a non-native English speaker makes every publication worth the struggle. When she lacks words, she uses visual arts to speak for her. She spends many an hour fiddling around with her website https://damicandrea.wordpress.com/damicandrea.wordpress.com/
Angela Zaher is a freelance writer based in London. She writes about food, travel, culture and lifestyle. Her articles have been published in magazines such as Delicious, Platinum and The Brussels Times. She writes regular restaurant reviews for Time & Leisure magazine and is on the Committee of the Guild of Food Writers. Her story, Love, Loss & Recipes was published in the first online issue of the other side of hope and was nominated for a Best of the Net Award.
Ari Honarvar is the founder of Rumi with a View, dedicated to building bridges between the arts, social justice, and well-being. She dances with refugees and conducts Resilience through Joy workshops on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Her words have been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel A Girl Called Rumi and the creator of Rumi’s Gift Oracle Deck.
Ayman Eckford is a Ukrainian Autistic asylum seeker who now lives in Sheffield, UK, with his wife and two cats. Ayman lived as a refugee or asylum seeker in Russia and Israel, before coming to the UK. Ayman is the creator of ‘Neurodiversity in Russia’ and a founder of an initiative group, ‘Autistic Initiative for Human Rights’. He is writing for the Ukrainian Think Tank ‘solid info’. He is also writing a dystopian novel.
Carolina Christ Evelyn P is an author and an immigrant in the UK. A student of Foreign Languages at the Open University, Carolina has a passion for writing, music & photography. She has written some novellas, short stories and children stories. A Place to Belong is one of her works where she unveils her life as an asylum seeker in the UK.
Elizabeth Torres (Madam Neverstop) 1987. Colombian-American poet, multimedia artist, literary translator and cultural organizer. Winner of the Ambroggio Prize by the Academy of American Poets with her book Lotería: Nocturnal Sweepstakes, University of Arizona Press 2023. Elizabeth is the author of over 20 books of poetry, with which she has performed in more than 35 countries. She is the founder of the Poetic Phonotheque, host of the Red Transmissions Podcast and director of Red Door Magazine. Elizabeth has a background in Media & Film and Fine Arts and an MFA in Writing from the National School of Performing Arts in Denmark. www.madamneverstop.com
Professor Emeritus of Russian at Hunter College in NYC, Emil Draitser is the author of seventeen books of artistic and scholarly prose. A three-time recipient of the prestigious New Jersey Council of the Arts Fellowships and Laureate of the International Mark Aldanov Literary Award, he also published his work in the Los Angeles Times, Partisan Review, World Literature Today, and elsewhere. His new book, Laughing All the Way to Freedom: Americanization of a Russian Émigré, is due this Fall from McFarland Publishers. (The author’s website: www.emildraitser.com)
Erjola Shuaipi, known as Lola, has lived in the UK for almost four years, passionately volunteering to give back to her welcoming community. Originating from Albania, she confronts stereotypes and seeks empathy from those who prejudge her without understanding her as an individual. Lola's enduring enthusiasm and empathy drive her to help everyone, irrespective of their background, while she yearns for understanding rather than snap judgments. She invites you to explore her poem and discover her deeper story.
Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, born in Iraq. living now in USA. Faleeha is the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq. She has master’s degree in Arabic literature and published 25 books. Her poems were translated into 20 languages.
George Sfougaras is a contemporary British Greek artist, based in Leicester, England. His work is concerned with memory, identity, cultural inheritance, migration and the impact of history on the present. He is a member of the Leicester Society of Artists and the Leicester Print Workshop. In 2017, he established the Focus on Identity International collective, comprising artists from European and Middle Eastern countries. Sfougaras was born in Heraklion, Crete, to Christian parents who were refugees from Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) and who subsequently came to the UK during the 1970s military Junta period. Those narratives, the unexpected challenges of the new country, and his career as a teacher within the British school system form the cornerstones of his work. www.georgesfougaras.com
Hanna Komar is a poet, translator, writer. She has recently published a bilingual poetry collection Ribwort (in Belarusian and in English): the stories of a woman growing and living in a patriarchal state and collective experiences of state violence under dictatorship. Hanna has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Westminster and is taking a PhD on using poetry to support Belarusian women to share experiences of domestic abuse and state violence.
Hongwei Bao (he/they) grew up in China and lives in Nottingham, UK. He studied Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, and creative writing at City Lit, London. He uses poetry, short stories and creative nonfiction to explore issues of queer desire, Asian identity, gender politics and transcultural intimacy. His work has appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Ponder Review, Positions Politics, Shanghai Literary Review, Voice & Verse, Write On and Words Without Borders.
Irineu Destourelles is a visual artist who explores issues of diaspora and otherness through various mediums, including moving-image and writing. Destourelles was born in Cape Verde and is based in Glasgow.
Karma Chodak Gyatso is a poet living in India. His work delves into themes of identity, individuality, the collective sense of being, everyday life in India, and reflects on topics such as belonging, Tibet, and the Tibetan experience in exile. The release of his first poetry book, "Rimbaud’s Grave" (2020), coincided with the pandemic lockdown, prompting sales through online distributions. His second poetry book, "Gyalam" (2023), explores various themes, including memory, displacement, and the experiences of Tibetan youth in exile. The author is an alum of Delhi University where he completed in BA in English Literature and HNB Garhwal University where he completed his MA in English literature.
Maria Rybakova has lived in Russia, Germany, United States, China, Thailand, Romania, Albania, and is currently based in Kazakhstan, where she teaches literature at Nazarbayev University. She writes in Russian and English. Her books are translated into French, Spanish,
German and Romanian. Her most recent collection, Quaternity: Four Novellas From the Carpathians, came out in 2021 with the Ibidem Press.
Masimba Musodza came to England from Zimbabwe as a young adult, settling in the North East England town of Middlesbrough. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies and periodicals around the world and online. He has published two novels and a novella in ChiShona, his first language, and a collection of short stories in English. He also writes for motion picture.
Matovu Abdallah Twaha, 50, is a trained Ugandan journalist who has previously written for the Ugandan dailies: The Daily Monitor and The Observer (2000) before serving as an Information Officer for Kalangala District Local Government (2001-2007). He then joined The Gulf Today, a daily in the United Arab Emirates (2007-2018). He is now a freelance writer and an entrepreneur dealing in coffee industry in Uganda.
Mofiyinfoluwa O. is a writer from Lagos, Nigeria whose work delves into emotional interiorities, womanhood as an embodied experience and the redemptive force of memory. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Black Warrior Review, Lolwe and elsewhere. She is a second year candidate on the Non-Fiction MFA at Iowa where she is at work on her debut collection of essays.
Born in Mauritius, Moossa Casseem immigrated to England in 1967, aged 18 years, when he was recruited to work in the NHS. He has published non fiction in Nursing journals and contributed to poetry and flash fiction anthologies.
Mugabi Byenkya is an award-winning writer of prose, poetry, comics, essays and songs. Mugabi’s writing is used to teach High School English in Kampala and Toronto schools. He won the Discovering Diversity Poetry Contest in 2017. In the same year, his award-nominated debut, ‘Dear Philomena,’ was published and he went on a 45 city, 5 country North America/East Africa tour. In 2018, Mugabi was named one of 56 writers who has contributed to his native Uganda’s literary heritage in the 56 years since independence by Writivism. Dear Philomena, was named a Ugandan bestseller in the same year. In 2022, Mugabi released his award-nominated his debut mixtape “Songs For Wo(Men) 2” via the independent American record label Hello America Stereo Cassette. Mugabi wants to be Jaden Smith when he grows up.
Natalia Knowlton Vásquez is a Chilean-Canadian poet, playwright and theatre maker based in London, UK. Reoccurring themes in her writing include Latin American and migrant identity, female sexuality, nostalgia and coming-of-age stories. Her writing is inherently feminist and political. Assimilation is her first published poem.
Nour Abuelreich is a Palestinian writer who earned an MFA in fiction writing at Chapman University. She writes about social and moral injustices within communities that she’s resided on. She is focused on the Arab American diaspora that many young Arabs experience when they move abroad.
Olga Kolesnikova lives in Brighton with their partner and their dog. Find them on Twitter @Kolgasnikova
Polina Cosgrave is a bilingual writer/performer based in Dublin. Polina’s debut poetry collection ‘My Name Is’ was published by Dedalus Press. Her work appeared on TV, radio and in numerous anthologies and magazines, including The Stinging Fly, Crannóg, Southword, Banshee and The Irish Times. Her poem 'Every Immigrant's Dream’ is featured in Poetry Day Ireland 2023 Pocket Poems initiative. Polina's film 'Currency Exchange' has been selected for this year's Irish Poetry-Film screening at the Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer poetry festival.
Rovshan Karimov is refugee from a Central Asian country.
Ruvimbo Mutyambizi (MaiMo) founded For Her Child, set up to challenge separation of refugee children from their families. Ruvimbo’s was separated from her son in this way without remedy. Based in the UK and originally from Zimbabwe, Ruvimbo enjoys poetry, children’s storytelling, live performance, song-writing, and art as modes of expressing the many colours of life. Ruvimbo’s creative name is MaiMo, in homage to her roots and to the mother child bond.
Sahra Mohamed is a writer based in London. She is particularly interested in exploring culture and identity through her work, having been featured in the 2021 print edition of the other side of hope journal. She is currently working on her debut novel, a historical fiction set in East Africa in the 1970s. She currently leads on the MFest Writers lab, a national writing development programme for Muslim writers in the early stages of their career in the UK. Sahra is also co-director at Home Girls Unite, a support group and platform for eldest immigrant daughters, where she works to challenge the conditions that create inequalities for girls and women in marginalised communities. Alongside this, Sahra is an Aziz Foundation Scholar, with a BSc in Pharmacology & Physiology and a MSc in Drug Discovery & Pharma Management from UCL.
Poet Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an Armenian family. As an immigrant, he resides in Pasadena, California. He is on the board of International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His inaugural poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published by the Fly on the Wall Press in October of 2021.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa under apartheid, Shereen Pandit became a lawyer, lecturer, political activist and trade unionist. Exiled in the UK, she completed a PhD in law, continued her activism and began writing. Her work has been published in the UK and elsewhere, in English and translation. She has won prizes including the Booktrust London Award and been shortlisted for others including the CBA Short Story Prize. Her work was read on stage and broadcast on radio in the USA and is used in European schools.
Sophia Kaur is a queer neurodivergent Sikh researcher and writer whose work focuses on (de)coloniality through the prism of security, silence, and trauma. They are currently a PhD student at the University of Glasgow and hold two Masters: one in Social Work and the other in International Relations. Sophia also has an undergrad Interdisciplinary Studies degree where she studied Psychology, English, and Philosophy. She loves to bring disparate information together and to share that knowledge through storytelling and poetry.
Vicky Turner lives in the South of England and has spent over twenty years teaching English in both the UK and the USA. As a writer, she is often inspired by her teaching work with teenagers, refugees and asylum seekers. As well as being a teacher and a writer, she is a runner, a reader and a traveller.
Yakin Kinger is an architect engaged in research and practice, and is an assistant professor at MET SOA & ID, Nashik. He holds a Masters in Architectural History and Theory from CEPT University. His research lies at the intersection of cultural landscapes and postcolonial studies by critically unpacking historiography in the context of architecture and its representation across mediums. He is also interested in Indian Classical music and plays the Sitar.
Young Roots is a London-based charity working with young refugees and asylum seekers aged 11-25, most of whom are alone in the UK without their families. The charity supports young people to improve their wellbeing and fulfil their potential through a range of programmes. This series of poems, Connection, was led by the poet Roz Doe and created through Young Roots’ Advice & Support Hubs in Brent and Croydon. In these spaces, young people can access one-to-one Casework, youth and sporting activities, English language mentoring, youth leadership development and specialist therapeutic and legal advice, as well as taking part in creative projects.
Yuxin Zhao is a writer from Hangzhou, China and currently based in the UK. Yuxin mainly writes experimental fiction and poetry on immigration, language, family history, and queer desire. Yuxin’s debut novel, The Moons: Fire Rooster to Earth Dog, is forthcoming from Calamari Archive.
Alice Attie is Syrian American academic, visual artist and poet. Attie traveled to Aleppo, home of her four grandparents, in 2011, just as the war began. She continues to make artwork addressing the Syrian tragedy and broader questions of migration and displacement. Her book, Under the Aleppo Sun, was published by Seagull Books in 2018. Attie holds a PhD in Comparative Literature. Her artworks are in many collections, including: MOMA and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Alice Motta is a physical theatre actor based in London, who explores themes of self-discovery, migration, body freedom, and sexuality. In 2023, she won a competition on Mental Health Awareness week and was published at the Poem Stellium website. She was also published in two anthologies in Brazil. For the second consecutive year, she will be a headliner at the Newham Poetry Festival and as a result, have her poems printed on their booklet.
Alison Hramiak is a part time poet and part time teacher educator living and working in Yorkshire. She has written poems from an early age and has been published in several Forward Poetry anthologies, New Contexts 4, and also on various web sites such as Dirigible Balloon, Impspired and The Causley Trust. She blogs about poetry at Sunday Mornings at the River and for the Sheffield Institute of Education. She reviews and edits poetry, and poetry anthologies, and has recently started performing at open mic sessions including at the Huddersfield Literature Festival.
Ambrose Musiyiwa is a poet and a journalist with a background in the intersection between activism, migration and community action. He coordinates Journeys in Translation, an international, volunteer-driven initiative that is translating Over Land, Over Sea: Poems for those seeking refuge (Five Leaves Publications, 2015) into other languages. Books he has edited include Welcome to Britain: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (CivicLeicester, 2023), Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (CivicLeicester, 2020), and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (CivicLeicester, 2019).
Ana Doina, a Romanian-born American writer living in New Jersey, she left Romania during the Ceausescu regime. Her poems appeared in numerous print and online magazines, anthologies, and textbooks. She won Honorable Mention in the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards for Poems on the Jewish Experience contest in 2007, and three of her poems were nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Her chapbook, The Later Generation, is scheduled for publication by Alabaster Leaves/Kelsay Books in 2024.
Andrea Damic, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, lives and works in Sydney, Australia. She’s an amateur photographer and author of poetry and prose. Being a non-native English speaker makes every publication worth the struggle. When she lacks words, she uses visual arts to speak for her. She spends many an hour fiddling around with her website https://damicandrea.wordpress.com/damicandrea.wordpress.com/
Angela Zaher is a freelance writer based in London. She writes about food, travel, culture and lifestyle. Her articles have been published in magazines such as Delicious, Platinum and The Brussels Times. She writes regular restaurant reviews for Time & Leisure magazine and is on the Committee of the Guild of Food Writers. Her story, Love, Loss & Recipes was published in the first online issue of the other side of hope and was nominated for a Best of the Net Award.
Ari Honarvar is the founder of Rumi with a View, dedicated to building bridges between the arts, social justice, and well-being. She dances with refugees and conducts Resilience through Joy workshops on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Her words have been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel A Girl Called Rumi and the creator of Rumi’s Gift Oracle Deck.
Ayman Eckford is a Ukrainian Autistic asylum seeker who now lives in Sheffield, UK, with his wife and two cats. Ayman lived as a refugee or asylum seeker in Russia and Israel, before coming to the UK. Ayman is the creator of ‘Neurodiversity in Russia’ and a founder of an initiative group, ‘Autistic Initiative for Human Rights’. He is writing for the Ukrainian Think Tank ‘solid info’. He is also writing a dystopian novel.
Carolina Christ Evelyn P is an author and an immigrant in the UK. A student of Foreign Languages at the Open University, Carolina has a passion for writing, music & photography. She has written some novellas, short stories and children stories. A Place to Belong is one of her works where she unveils her life as an asylum seeker in the UK.
Elizabeth Torres (Madam Neverstop) 1987. Colombian-American poet, multimedia artist, literary translator and cultural organizer. Winner of the Ambroggio Prize by the Academy of American Poets with her book Lotería: Nocturnal Sweepstakes, University of Arizona Press 2023. Elizabeth is the author of over 20 books of poetry, with which she has performed in more than 35 countries. She is the founder of the Poetic Phonotheque, host of the Red Transmissions Podcast and director of Red Door Magazine. Elizabeth has a background in Media & Film and Fine Arts and an MFA in Writing from the National School of Performing Arts in Denmark. www.madamneverstop.com
Professor Emeritus of Russian at Hunter College in NYC, Emil Draitser is the author of seventeen books of artistic and scholarly prose. A three-time recipient of the prestigious New Jersey Council of the Arts Fellowships and Laureate of the International Mark Aldanov Literary Award, he also published his work in the Los Angeles Times, Partisan Review, World Literature Today, and elsewhere. His new book, Laughing All the Way to Freedom: Americanization of a Russian Émigré, is due this Fall from McFarland Publishers. (The author’s website: www.emildraitser.com)
Erjola Shuaipi, known as Lola, has lived in the UK for almost four years, passionately volunteering to give back to her welcoming community. Originating from Albania, she confronts stereotypes and seeks empathy from those who prejudge her without understanding her as an individual. Lola's enduring enthusiasm and empathy drive her to help everyone, irrespective of their background, while she yearns for understanding rather than snap judgments. She invites you to explore her poem and discover her deeper story.
Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, born in Iraq. living now in USA. Faleeha is the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq. She has master’s degree in Arabic literature and published 25 books. Her poems were translated into 20 languages.
George Sfougaras is a contemporary British Greek artist, based in Leicester, England. His work is concerned with memory, identity, cultural inheritance, migration and the impact of history on the present. He is a member of the Leicester Society of Artists and the Leicester Print Workshop. In 2017, he established the Focus on Identity International collective, comprising artists from European and Middle Eastern countries. Sfougaras was born in Heraklion, Crete, to Christian parents who were refugees from Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) and who subsequently came to the UK during the 1970s military Junta period. Those narratives, the unexpected challenges of the new country, and his career as a teacher within the British school system form the cornerstones of his work. www.georgesfougaras.com
Hanna Komar is a poet, translator, writer. She has recently published a bilingual poetry collection Ribwort (in Belarusian and in English): the stories of a woman growing and living in a patriarchal state and collective experiences of state violence under dictatorship. Hanna has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Westminster and is taking a PhD on using poetry to support Belarusian women to share experiences of domestic abuse and state violence.
Hongwei Bao (he/they) grew up in China and lives in Nottingham, UK. He studied Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, and creative writing at City Lit, London. He uses poetry, short stories and creative nonfiction to explore issues of queer desire, Asian identity, gender politics and transcultural intimacy. His work has appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Ponder Review, Positions Politics, Shanghai Literary Review, Voice & Verse, Write On and Words Without Borders.
Irineu Destourelles is a visual artist who explores issues of diaspora and otherness through various mediums, including moving-image and writing. Destourelles was born in Cape Verde and is based in Glasgow.
Karma Chodak Gyatso is a poet living in India. His work delves into themes of identity, individuality, the collective sense of being, everyday life in India, and reflects on topics such as belonging, Tibet, and the Tibetan experience in exile. The release of his first poetry book, "Rimbaud’s Grave" (2020), coincided with the pandemic lockdown, prompting sales through online distributions. His second poetry book, "Gyalam" (2023), explores various themes, including memory, displacement, and the experiences of Tibetan youth in exile. The author is an alum of Delhi University where he completed in BA in English Literature and HNB Garhwal University where he completed his MA in English literature.
Maria Rybakova has lived in Russia, Germany, United States, China, Thailand, Romania, Albania, and is currently based in Kazakhstan, where she teaches literature at Nazarbayev University. She writes in Russian and English. Her books are translated into French, Spanish,
German and Romanian. Her most recent collection, Quaternity: Four Novellas From the Carpathians, came out in 2021 with the Ibidem Press.
Masimba Musodza came to England from Zimbabwe as a young adult, settling in the North East England town of Middlesbrough. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies and periodicals around the world and online. He has published two novels and a novella in ChiShona, his first language, and a collection of short stories in English. He also writes for motion picture.
Matovu Abdallah Twaha, 50, is a trained Ugandan journalist who has previously written for the Ugandan dailies: The Daily Monitor and The Observer (2000) before serving as an Information Officer for Kalangala District Local Government (2001-2007). He then joined The Gulf Today, a daily in the United Arab Emirates (2007-2018). He is now a freelance writer and an entrepreneur dealing in coffee industry in Uganda.
Mofiyinfoluwa O. is a writer from Lagos, Nigeria whose work delves into emotional interiorities, womanhood as an embodied experience and the redemptive force of memory. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Black Warrior Review, Lolwe and elsewhere. She is a second year candidate on the Non-Fiction MFA at Iowa where she is at work on her debut collection of essays.
Born in Mauritius, Moossa Casseem immigrated to England in 1967, aged 18 years, when he was recruited to work in the NHS. He has published non fiction in Nursing journals and contributed to poetry and flash fiction anthologies.
Mugabi Byenkya is an award-winning writer of prose, poetry, comics, essays and songs. Mugabi’s writing is used to teach High School English in Kampala and Toronto schools. He won the Discovering Diversity Poetry Contest in 2017. In the same year, his award-nominated debut, ‘Dear Philomena,’ was published and he went on a 45 city, 5 country North America/East Africa tour. In 2018, Mugabi was named one of 56 writers who has contributed to his native Uganda’s literary heritage in the 56 years since independence by Writivism. Dear Philomena, was named a Ugandan bestseller in the same year. In 2022, Mugabi released his award-nominated his debut mixtape “Songs For Wo(Men) 2” via the independent American record label Hello America Stereo Cassette. Mugabi wants to be Jaden Smith when he grows up.
Natalia Knowlton Vásquez is a Chilean-Canadian poet, playwright and theatre maker based in London, UK. Reoccurring themes in her writing include Latin American and migrant identity, female sexuality, nostalgia and coming-of-age stories. Her writing is inherently feminist and political. Assimilation is her first published poem.
Nour Abuelreich is a Palestinian writer who earned an MFA in fiction writing at Chapman University. She writes about social and moral injustices within communities that she’s resided on. She is focused on the Arab American diaspora that many young Arabs experience when they move abroad.
Olga Kolesnikova lives in Brighton with their partner and their dog. Find them on Twitter @Kolgasnikova
Polina Cosgrave is a bilingual writer/performer based in Dublin. Polina’s debut poetry collection ‘My Name Is’ was published by Dedalus Press. Her work appeared on TV, radio and in numerous anthologies and magazines, including The Stinging Fly, Crannóg, Southword, Banshee and The Irish Times. Her poem 'Every Immigrant's Dream’ is featured in Poetry Day Ireland 2023 Pocket Poems initiative. Polina's film 'Currency Exchange' has been selected for this year's Irish Poetry-Film screening at the Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer poetry festival.
Rovshan Karimov is refugee from a Central Asian country.
Ruvimbo Mutyambizi (MaiMo) founded For Her Child, set up to challenge separation of refugee children from their families. Ruvimbo’s was separated from her son in this way without remedy. Based in the UK and originally from Zimbabwe, Ruvimbo enjoys poetry, children’s storytelling, live performance, song-writing, and art as modes of expressing the many colours of life. Ruvimbo’s creative name is MaiMo, in homage to her roots and to the mother child bond.
Sahra Mohamed is a writer based in London. She is particularly interested in exploring culture and identity through her work, having been featured in the 2021 print edition of the other side of hope journal. She is currently working on her debut novel, a historical fiction set in East Africa in the 1970s. She currently leads on the MFest Writers lab, a national writing development programme for Muslim writers in the early stages of their career in the UK. Sahra is also co-director at Home Girls Unite, a support group and platform for eldest immigrant daughters, where she works to challenge the conditions that create inequalities for girls and women in marginalised communities. Alongside this, Sahra is an Aziz Foundation Scholar, with a BSc in Pharmacology & Physiology and a MSc in Drug Discovery & Pharma Management from UCL.
Poet Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an Armenian family. As an immigrant, he resides in Pasadena, California. He is on the board of International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His inaugural poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published by the Fly on the Wall Press in October of 2021.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa under apartheid, Shereen Pandit became a lawyer, lecturer, political activist and trade unionist. Exiled in the UK, she completed a PhD in law, continued her activism and began writing. Her work has been published in the UK and elsewhere, in English and translation. She has won prizes including the Booktrust London Award and been shortlisted for others including the CBA Short Story Prize. Her work was read on stage and broadcast on radio in the USA and is used in European schools.
Sophia Kaur is a queer neurodivergent Sikh researcher and writer whose work focuses on (de)coloniality through the prism of security, silence, and trauma. They are currently a PhD student at the University of Glasgow and hold two Masters: one in Social Work and the other in International Relations. Sophia also has an undergrad Interdisciplinary Studies degree where she studied Psychology, English, and Philosophy. She loves to bring disparate information together and to share that knowledge through storytelling and poetry.
Vicky Turner lives in the South of England and has spent over twenty years teaching English in both the UK and the USA. As a writer, she is often inspired by her teaching work with teenagers, refugees and asylum seekers. As well as being a teacher and a writer, she is a runner, a reader and a traveller.
Yakin Kinger is an architect engaged in research and practice, and is an assistant professor at MET SOA & ID, Nashik. He holds a Masters in Architectural History and Theory from CEPT University. His research lies at the intersection of cultural landscapes and postcolonial studies by critically unpacking historiography in the context of architecture and its representation across mediums. He is also interested in Indian Classical music and plays the Sitar.
Young Roots is a London-based charity working with young refugees and asylum seekers aged 11-25, most of whom are alone in the UK without their families. The charity supports young people to improve their wellbeing and fulfil their potential through a range of programmes. This series of poems, Connection, was led by the poet Roz Doe and created through Young Roots’ Advice & Support Hubs in Brent and Croydon. In these spaces, young people can access one-to-one Casework, youth and sporting activities, English language mentoring, youth leadership development and specialist therapeutic and legal advice, as well as taking part in creative projects.
Yuxin Zhao is a writer from Hangzhou, China and currently based in the UK. Yuxin mainly writes experimental fiction and poetry on immigration, language, family history, and queer desire. Yuxin’s debut novel, The Moons: Fire Rooster to Earth Dog, is forthcoming from Calamari Archive.
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