We are a migrant-led, independent, non-affiliated, not-for-profit publication and the home of the migrant writers and poets of the world. Passersby are welcome to get some rest here; we offer poetry and prose, in English and other languages.

Established in 2021, the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and immigrant literature is a UK-based literary magazine edited by migrants. So far we have donated 2,100 copies to refugee centres, hotels with new arrivals and public libraries of sanctuary. You can find the list of where we donated copies here. We are proud to be the UK’s first ever literary magazine of Sanctuary, accredited by City of Sanctuary UK. The project is made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. 

To contact the editors, please email
editor.otherside @ gmail.com
​(remove spaces before and after @)

mission

the other side of hope was created for those who play against all odds, those unsure of every word they write, the frowned upon ones and mostly unwelcomed, the beautiful strangers. It’s a project of creativity and understanding for those who write without hope in the badly lit corners of literature. A project of words that cleans a little the great big mirror of life from the slime they throw at our reflections, so that the cruel may be less cruel and the kind kinder.

what we publish

We publish biannually, one issue in English only, and one in other languages alongside English translations.

English issue: unthemed poetry and fiction by refugees and immigrants only, and non-fiction by anyone on the theme of migration.

Mother Tongue, Other Tongue issue: poetry in various languages, by refugees and immigrants, alongside English translations.

We pay all our contributors and we collaborate with A.M. Heath Literary Agency who each year select six of our contributors to offer free one-to-one sessions. We hold two open reading periods. We nominate our contributors for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, PEN awards, and others. For more information you can visit our submissions page.

where you can find the other side of hope

Our issues are available to buy and read through our website, under read & shop. Any profit from sales of the magazine goes towards our next volume. Copies can be borrowed from Public Libraries throughout the UK and from some UK and USA academic libraries, and can also be purchased in some UK independent bookshops. You can find the list of refugee centres that might still have copies available here.

You can watch some of our previous contributors reading or talking about their work on our YouTube channel: @OtherSideLitMag

​The magazine takes its name from Aki Kaurismäki’s film with the same title.

Patrons: A. M. Dassu & Lord Alf Dubs.
Ambassador: Sepideh Moafi

praise

'Essential, illuminating and powerful… the other side of hope brings to light the lives that the world often prefers to ignore.'
-- Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize Winner for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

'I find this project deeply inspiring and so important to world literature. Immigrant stories are so often cast through the lens of the native born. Just as often they’re marginalized or pigeonholed, with only a few voices taken seriously by Westerner gatekeepers on purely artistic grounds – often those breakthrough voices belong to those schooled in western storytelling. Here is a literary magazine that invites displaced people to tell their own stories in their own way, and to be a part of a larger literary and artistic conversation beyond migration politics. I’m so moved!'
-- Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee & Who Gets Believed?

'the other side of hope acts as a commentary on or mirror to our world now and gives the reader a sense of the huge range of experiences of those who move through it ... this literary magazine is a gift to us all.'
-- Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned

'Helmed by a team of refugees and immigrants, the other side of hope aims to challenge common perceptions of refugees in the UK, and to chronicle the immigrant experience.'
-- The Bookseller

'In the other side of hope, writers are released from the narrow parameters expected by much of the media.'
-- The Times Literary Supplement 

'At long last a serious publication dedicated to the voices of people who have moved. the other side of hope reaches across divides, and platforms the voices that urgently need to be heard, bringing us together as neighbours - as humans.'
-- City of Sanctuary UK

'To refer to the other side of hope simply as "a literary magazine" feels like an injustice. It is a beautiful, complex and painful collection of short stories, non-fiction and poems written and edited by refugees and immigrants ... It constitutes a tool for building empathy, for generating understanding, and an avenue through which to become immersed in the lives of refugees and immigrants for a brief, yet emotive period of time ... You have no choice but to remove your blinkers and disassemble your barriers, blinking in the glaring light of inhumanity, yet reassured that there is enough humanity within us and between us to sustain each other, if we were willing to reach across arbitrary divides ... This literature invites us to deconstruct the categories of "alien", "immigrant", "refugee" and "other", in order to simply recognise the humanity, the beauty, and the struggle in all of us, regardless of country of origin or means of arrival.'
-- The Norwich Radical

'From the vital voices of migrants across the globe, the other side of hope is simply brilliant — a unique collection of fiction and poetry that is both heart and eye opening and reflects the deepest parts of the human condition that bind us all. A magazine we have always needed in a time when we need it most.'
-- Sepideh Moafi, multi-hyphenate artist & humanitarian

'This is a brilliant and vital magazine, that allows voices to speak which would otherwise remain unheard – a utopian Babel.'
-- Jonathan Taylor, author, editor, critic & Associate Professor of Creative Writing 

'A brilliant and essential magazine that reminds us of our shared humanity: By reading the other side of hope we can demonstrate our solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers the world over.'
-- Lucy Popescu, Chair, The Authors' Club & Best First Novel Award (BFNA)

'Visceral and evocative ... everyone should read it.'
​-- The Lit Platform

A former refugee child, Lord Alf Dubs, patron of the other side of hope, interviewed by our editor, Rubina Bala.

From the Other Side
Company limited by guarantee, registration number 15128344 England and Wales
Registered office – LCB Depot, 31 Rutland St., Leicester LE1 1RE, UK

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