BLOG
International Women’s Day
This year, we celebrated International Women’s Day with an illustrious group of path-opening individuals who not only crossed literal and metaphorical borders to reclaim their agencies, but, more profoundly, transformed the patriarchally-constructed tragedies they encountered, or witnessed, into stories of empowerment, inspiring us all to go one step further for those who are yet [...]
Words that Walk Through Walls. World Poets Writing with Ilhan Sami Çomak
On the occasion of the book launch of Words that Walk Through Walls (Palewell Press) at the end of November 2024, we were all prepared for another campaigning event about the terrible injustice of Kurdish poet Ilhan Sami Çomak’s long imprisonment of thirty years in a Turkish prison. Thirty-six years is the life sentence [...]
Words for the Silenced – The Event
MONDAY, 11 MARCH 2024 AT REGENT’S UNIVERSITY, LONDON BY SIMONE THEISS I. The Background: 1. Some of you might remember that my Amnesty Group Westminster Bayswater organised in 2019 together with “Exiled Writers Ink” an event at the Poetry Café in London. It was called “Words for the Silenced“. It focussed on four prisoners of [...]
Longing at a London Arts Centre
Our October 2023 Exiled Lit Cafe By Catherine Temma Davidson Tamara Henderson from the Camden Arts Centre website:https://camdenartcentre.org/ It was a rainy Thursday in the middle of October. If you believe in energy fields, you could say that the whole city of London was subdued, reverberating with the shock of the events in Israel and [...]
On the Frontline: Other Voices Project
by Jennifer Langer 3.8.2023 These are challenging times for Muslims, Jews and Black people with these groups on the front line confronting racism. Exiled Writers Ink has a key role to play in bringing together a diverse range of writers of Jewish, Muslim and Black backgrounds in the creative process. In the face of [...]
Cultural Dialogue Across Boundaries
by Omer Aksoy 26 June 2023 Here were five of us from the EWI group at a very interesting and transformative event, with lots of fun too. We dived into this fascinating art form, translation, a form that allows for the exchange of ideas and cultural expressions across borders. Last Wednesday, we had the [...]
MEDIA
Exiled Writers Ink Calls for a Ceasefire
Exiled Writers Ink calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We urgently demand the protection of civilians, an end to the siege and the release of all remaining hostages. Peace must prevail.
We are a literary, human rights-supporting, international organisation, many of whose members have fled state-sponsored violence, genocide, civil war, racism, social injustice and discrimination. We watch with grave concern as the ongoing atrocities that began on October 7 and crashed like a wave through the population of Gaza, spreads its dark cloud over our streets here in the UK, giving rise to increasing levels of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
Writers and poets do have the power of the pen which is why they are so often targeted. We believe in the ability of shared stories to shape a better future. We call on individuals and organisations to join us in building an Anti-Racism Collective, to increase empathy across all borders and to honour our shared humanity.
Pen to Print interviews Chair Rouhi Shafii, 2023
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2022/07/11/shahireh/
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2022/05/05/nasrin/
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2021/02/05/hamed/
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2021/01/13/amir-darwish/
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2021/01/13/shirin/
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2020/11/09/mansour/
https://refugeeradio.org.uk/2020/09/29/rahima/
We are delighted to announce that Exiled Writers Ink
is on the Publishers Award’s Shortlist for the
2021 Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets.
Judges’ Comments “Over the past few years, the publishing arm of London’s Exiled Writers Ink writing group has consistently issued pamphlets featuring poets of the highest quality drawn from all parts of the world, including Cyprus, Sierra Leone, Syria, Algeria and Afghanistan, supporting the urgent work of deracinated writers, migrants and refugees. Their mentorship scheme, pairing emerging poets with established tutors and editors makes for a list that brims with verve and vivacity.” click here >
The Guardian
Exiled Writers Ink letter to The Guardian (9.7.2021) against Priti Patel’s new proposals for dealing with refugees. Read more >
Letter in the Guardian about Ilhan Comak and our February 2020 Exiled Lit Cafe.
Read more >
The Times
Call for Afghan actors, writers, and filmmakers to be given safe passage. Index on Censorship Letter to The Times (11.9.2021) signed by some Exiled Writers Ink people. Click here >
Exiled Writers Ink signs letter: Afghanistan – Cultural organisations urge UK government to act
https://www.englishpen.org/posts/news/afghanistan-cultural-organisations-urge-uk-government-to-open-acrs/
RESISTANCE ANTHOLOGY
Press Review about Resistance book. Read more >
Resistance anthology, press release >
Review of Resistance anthology and the 2021 chapbooks . Read review >
Hampstead and Highgate Express. Includes interviews with poets, Amir Darwish and Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes. Read review >
BLM:
Exiled Writers Ink Black Lives Matter Statement. Read more >
Synchronicity
Illegal Immigration Bill – click here to read >
SOCIAL MEDIA
