Dina Nayeri is the author of The Ungrateful Refugee, which will be published on May 30th by Canongate. Her Guardian essay of the same name, which inspired the book, went viral on publication in 2017 and has now had almost 100k views. Dina fled Iran with her mother and brother in the 1980s, before settling […]
Rachel Shapcott from PositiveNegatives introduces‘Ola’. Co-created with young migrant activists, ‘Ola’ is a unique comic following the love story of two teenagers facing the challenges confronted by thousands of young people in the UK who are undocumented and have irregular immigration status. Despite being smart, outgoing and popular Ola is desperately trying to keep a […]
Lucy Popescu introduces a new collection of writing: A Country to Call Home People have moved across land and sea for thousands of years whether in search of food or to trade. Over time, the reasons for migration have evolved. War, cultural or religious persecution, drought and famine are just some of the reasons people […]
By James Easey Yesterday I attended Welcome is a Radical Act: presentations, screenings, workshops & performance, exploring the impact of welcome in the lives of migrants and refugees at Goldsmiths University. Sue Mayo began the day by reflecting on last year’s conference, re-drawing attention to the metal health of those seeking, or attempting to seek, […]
Monthly Exiled Lit Cafe: Monday 6th November 2017 at 7.30 pm Arts Across Borders On Stage. Poetry: Abol Froushan, Afsaneh Gitiforouz, Alev Adil and Alemu Tebeje. Theatre: Performance from ‘Evros: The Crossing River’ by Seemia Theatre plus discussion with the director and actors. Music: Song and accordion by Grace. Film: Clips from ‘Football Dream’ […]
Ahead of the Platforma Festival later this month, we are using the Platforma blog to introduce some of the people who will be attending Bevin Magama writes: I am a Zimbabwean-born performance storyteller and author living in Cardiff, Wales. I came to the UK as a refugee in 2001. My book Vicious, is an autobiography about my […]
From coming to the UK in the back of a lorry to performing at The Pleasance By Syed Najibi, Emirjon Hoxhaj, Awet Mohamed Ali and Kate Duffy of Phosphoros Theatre Company ‘Can you bring the play to Brighton, Bradford, Sheffield, NEW YORK!’ Here’s five thousand dollars to make Dear Home Office the Movie!’ That is […]
By Andrea Jones. The shadowy, shape-shifting possibilities of Brexit and the Trump administration have had some positive effects – in publishing at least. Diversity is a must. Agent and Editor calls for ‘own voice’ narratives are frequent. Some observers call it a trend, and that’s the wrong word. The movement is more well-intentioned than ‘trend’ […]
CALL-OUT FOR WRITERS White Rabbit: The Future In line with this year’s Refugee Week theme of ‘Our Shared Future’, White Rabbit are hosting an evening of new short stories responding to the theme of The Future. In a rapidly changing world, they are inspired to explore what utopian/dystopian futures lie ahead. White Rabbit are looking […]
Ricky Romain, Cedoux Kadima and Robert Golden introduce their new project. EXILE is a project that will rely upon metaphor and mood to transport the audience to a domain in which our shared humanity becomes paramount, where all the worst may be contemplated and all the best may be embraced. It touches upon lost dreams […]
A Christmas present to Members of Parliament hopes to change the tone of the debate on refugees and seeks a more compassionate response to a worldwide issue. On Tuesday 13th December 2016 from 2.15 – 4pm at an event in the House of Commons, MPs will be given a copy of A Country of Refuge. […]
By Tolu Agbelusi. At 14, I moved to the UK from Nigeria with my family. The dream was far more exciting than the reality of attending school with a different accent, in a different country, with people who thought and verbalised various assumptions, including that I must have been living in trees because that’s what […]
My names is Eric Ngalle Charles and I was born on Buea, Cameroon. I was not always known as Eric Charles, I went with my maternal grandfather’s name which is Mosre Mo Ngwa, loosely translated to mean ‘Dog of Dawn’. When father Francis baptised me in the early parts of 1980, then my name was […]
By Hannah Pillai, ArtReach. As part of Refugee Week 2016, ArtReach hosted a live music and spoken word event – VOICED – to showcase the talent of the East Midlands refugee community, in association with the Platforma Network. The basement of The Exchange in Leicester became a glittering lair where the audience sat back, relaxed […]
Author Zana Fraillon introduces her new book The Bone Sparrow. We are at a point now, in human history, when we most need the guidance of global leaders with compassion, courage and dignity. It is a sad irony then, that those very people who show such traits are locked behind barbed wire fences, or stuck […]
