On the Front Line
Anti-Racist Collective
On the Frontline: Other Voices
This project began in March 2023 and is kindly funded by the Edge Fund and the N. Druker Charitable Trust.
If you would like to join the Exiled Writers Ink Frontline Anti-Racist Collective, please contact exiledwritersink@gmail.com
If you know of an organisation or group that would be interested in hosting a reading and/or workshop, please contact exiledwritersink@gmail.com
The Aim of the Project
These are challenging times for Muslims, Jews and Black people with these groups on the frontline 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 increasing hostility, Muslim, Black and Jewish cultural communities can draw strength and solidarity from one another. Fundamentally, the project is dedicated to building bridges and to creating a space for understanding and empathy.
Activities so far
So far there has been a launch event which took place in March 2023 and was also part of the Alternative Arts East London Women’s History Festival. It featured women poets who provided surprising insights into the complexity of identity. The poets were Yvonne Green, Sana Nassari and Hamdi Khalif.
Four workshops then took place in spring 2023 in a beautiful seventeenth century house in Great Ormond Street. These were developed and delivered by the established poets and tutors Dr Aviva Dautch, Nick Makoha and Shazea Quraishi and were very well-attended by developing writers from a range of Black, Muslim and Jewish backgrounds.
We are now expanding the conversation to involve communities in London. We aim to form a collective of exiled writers to perform and engage with local London communities in a roadshow to be spread over at least a year. We hope creative alliances will be formed to work together against intolerance.
Our first roadshow activity in July 2023 was a workshop with the Afghan women’s group of the Afghan Association of London based in Harrow. Ziba Karbassi and Jennifer Langer were the facilitators. We began by discussing the concept of poetry, including landays, a traditional Afghan poetic form, and then the women participated in the repeated lines of one of my poems and listened to a poem by Ziba. We followed this by showing the women our identity objects in relation to the senses, including gazing and touching at Ziba’s beautiful Iranian tiles and tasting Jewish ceremonial bread. There was a lot of interactive discussion to draw out similes around the women’s meaningful objects. Finally, they chose two lines from their poem and we ended by creating a collaborative poem.
Poem by Maliha Kabir
Oh those roses of my childhood in our large qala
Pink as a baby’s cheeks
The petals soft as velvet
And the fragrance
Reminds me of the early morning
When the sun rises.
My grandmother grew them with love
With love I feel her soul
She was a powerful, strong women
Still, she protects us
Still, she gives us strength when times are hard.
The blushing roses in my dear friend’s garden
Her strong personality, her appearance
Take me back to my grandmother’s time.
Our Exiled Lit Cafe in August 2023 ‘Beyond the Identity Stereotypes’ formed part of the initiative. Exiled Writers Ink presented a literary focus on the complexity of identity in relation to Jews and Muslims, two of the groups on the frontline confronting racism. Participants included Ariel Kahn, Shahaduz Zaman, Nada Menzalji, Gabriel Spiers and Selim Jahan.
A workshop for local people took place at West Greenwich Library in October 2023 featuring Barbara Saunders, Omer Aksoy and Dzifa Benson. Here is the collaborative poem that was created which is a reflection of the complexity of the multi-faceted strands of identity.
I am Greenwich
I am crazed, glazed, bordered with oranges
sit on a crown MADE IN ENGLAND
I hear my own voice without an echo
a beached pebble in your pocket
Each question I ask washes away the last
connects with the next. In silence I keep asking
I am here to remind you
I long to be lashed once again by the salty surge
My skin is made of fabrics
stitched from sleepless nights
a single mother on minimum wage
Sharp, unripe, I draw their tongues
I can be bad for your teeth
The man took me on journeys and outings any
moment could be an opportunity for prayer
An Exiled Writers Ink session was due to be presented as part of the November Tsitsit Jewish Fringe Festival but unfortunately, because of the October 7th attack, most of the Festival events were cancelled. However, our February 2024 Exiled Lit Café titled ‘The Present Cannot Breathe: A Time of Wars’, provided a space through poetry for the Jewish and Palestinian poets Dr Aviva Dautch and Dr Atef Alshaer to express strong emotions in relation to identity and the Israel Gaza conflict.
March 2024 will see a workshop for asylum seekers at the Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network with Max Fishel, Najma Saher and Xaviera Ringeling.
Exiled Writers Ink, represented by Adam Kammerling, Amir Darwish and Dzifa Benson, will also participate in Middlesex University’s Storyfest and Interfaith event although the ‘On the Frontline’ project is not intended to be a faith project as arguably, simplistic assumptions may be made about the complexity of identities.
Other Voices Project
4 Free Sunday afternoon
Workshops
with acclaimed writers & facilitator-tutors
Aviva Dautch – Nick Makoha – Shazea Quraishi
This short course aims to help articulate your experiences, drawing on your cultural background to create work that resists stereotypes and celebrates difference and diversity. What insights come from listening to each other’s stories?
In the face of increasing hostility, Muslim, Black and Jewish cultural communities can draw strength and solidarity from one another.
The workshops build from an exploration of the creative process to completing work you are proud of.
Come listen, learn and be inspired.
After these workshops, we aim to form a collective of writers to draw in London’s local communities to expand the conversation.
Sunday 26th March 3 to 5 pm
Sunday 2nd April 3 to 5 pm
Sunday 16th April 3 to 5 pm
Sunday 7th May 3 to 5 pm
49 Great Ormond Street
London WC1N 3HZ
(nearest tube: Russell Square)
Free for Exiled Writers Ink 2023 members
Join here >
Membership: £20
Contact EWI in confidence if there is a problem
Register for the 4 workshops: exiledwritersink@gmail.com
With thanks to the Edge Funds
ON THE FRONTLINE: OTHER VOICES
Thursday 30th January from 7.30 to 9 pm
Free Event
This event is part of the Exiled Writers Ink project ‘On the Frontline: Other Voices’ roadshow which is dedicated to building bridges and to creating a space for understanding and empathy.
Exiled Writers Ink has a key role to play in bringing together a range of writers of diverse Jewish, Muslim and Black backgrounds. Yet as identity is complex and multi-layered, the poets will provide insights into identities beyond the stereotypes.
Plus discussion.
Sana Nassari is a British-Iranian poet, writer, translator, and art historian based in London. She has published a novel as well as translations of two novels by the American writer Karen Joy Fowler and the novel The Graveyard by Polish writer Marek Hłasko. She also has a translation of a novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer under publication. A chapbook of her short stories, These Two Roses, was published by Exiled Writer Ink, 2020. Her poetry collection, O Delilah won second prize for an unpublished collection at the Journalists Poetry Award. Her poetry collection, Departure has been recently published by Morvarid in Iran. Sana holds an M.A. in the History of Art from SOAS, University of London. Since 2021, she has been actively contributing to Writers Mosaic magazine, specialising in crafting art and literature reviews.
Max Terry Fishel was born in Liverpool to European Jewish parents. He now lives in London, writing and performing spoken word poetry on a wide range of topics, including the Jewish experience. Some of his poems have been published in magazines, but his main love is for live performance. Max particularly enjoys and values the power of poetry to give voice to otherwise marginalised communities.
Handsen Chikowore is a poet originally from Zimbabwe who fled through the Limpopo border. He has written many poems on topics such as human rights, poverty and animals. He has been published in magazines such as The Spectator, The Parade, The Southern Cross, De La Mancha and Philosophy Now and his work appears in the anthology Resistance: Voices of Exiled Writers (Palewell Press, 2020). Handsen has read his poems at Exiled Writers Ink, Paris Poetry Festival, Limmud Jewish festival, Black History Month and Brecon Poetry Festival.
West Greenwich Library
146, Greenwich High Road
SE10 8NN
Kindly funded by the Edge Fund and the N. Druker Charitable Trust
Monday 9th October at 7.30 pm at West Greenwich Library
146 Greenwich High Road, London SE10 8NN
Come along to an exciting evening of poetry and discussion and get creative!
These are challenging times for Muslims, Jews and Black people with these groups on the frontline confronting racism. In the face of hostility, Muslim, Black and Jewish cultural communities can draw strength and solidarity from one another.
Come along and gain insights into the complexity of these identities.
Bring an object that is meaningful for your identity.
With poets
Omer Aksoy – Dzifa Benson – Barbara Saunders
Omer Aksoy’s poems reflect on relationships, nature, and politics. His work has appeared in Poets’ Poems, a poetry anthology in Turkish and he performed in Exiled Words, exploring the life of a diaspora poet. He is a member of Exiled Writers Ink and Greenwich Meantime Stanza.
Dzifa Benson is a Ghanaian-British, multi-disciplinary artist who explores identity, heritage and being via a constellation of literary and non-literary art forms, journalism, as well as immersive technologies. She is a poet, curator, dramaturge, and playwright. Her most recent collection is Staying Human.
Barbara Saunders’ poems appear in multiple anthologies and magazines and online. She is a member of Exiled Writers Ink and Sutton Jewish community in south London.
Literary Activism
Towards an Open Land: On the Frontline Together
In response to rising Islamophobia and anti-Semitism across the UK, Exiled Writers Ink will be bringing together a diverse range of Muslim and Jewish writers currently living in Britain. Through workshops, they will explore their personal narratives and literary traditions to create poetic responses.
After these London workshops, we will take our project on the road to expand the conversation. These events with local communities will include poetry, discussion and workshops on the nuances of writing poetry as an enquiry into transnational cultural identities.
Other Voices Project
4 Free Sunday afternoon
Workshops
with acclaimed writers & facilitator-tutors
Aviva Dautch – Nick Makoha – Shazea Quraishi
This short course aims to help articulate your experiences, drawing on your cultural background to create work that resists stereotypes and celebrates difference and diversity. What insights come from listening to each other’s stories?
In the face of increasing hostility, Muslim, Black and Jewish cultural communities can draw strength and solidarity from one another.
The workshops build from an exploration of the creative process to completing work you are proud of.
Come listen, learn and be inspired.
After these workshops, we aim to form a collective of writers to draw in London’s local communities to expand the conversation.
Sunday 26th March 3 to 5 pm
Sunday 2nd April 3 to 5 pm
Sunday 16th April 3 to 5 pm
Sunday 7th May 3 to 5 pm
49 Great Ormond Street
London WC1N 3HZ
(nearest tube: Russell Square)
Free for Exiled Writers Ink 2023 members
Join here >
Contact EWI in confidence if there is a problem
Register for the 4 workshops: exiledwritersink@gmail.com
With thanks to the Edge Funds
Workshops
Mondays 24th June, 1st, 22nd, 29th July from 6 to 8 pm
SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG (nearest tube: Russell Square)
Facilitated by experienced Muslim and Jewish tutors working together, this short course aims to help you articulate your experiences, drawing on your cultural backgrounds to create work that resists stereotypes and celebrates difference and diversity.
In the face of increasing hostility, the two communities can draw strength and solidarity from one another.
Four workshops build from an exploration of the creative process to completing work you are proud of.
Come listen, learn and be inspired.
About the tutors:
Shamim Azad is a bilingual poet, storyteller and writer of Bangladeshi origin.
Ariel Kahn is a published novelist and lecturer in creative writing.
After these London workshops, we will take the project on the road in England to draw in local communities to interactively expand the conversation about imposed identities.
Register now: exiledwritersink@gmail.com
Free for Exiled Writers Ink 2019 members. Otherwise, join EWI (£15) for 4 free workshops. FREE if there is a payment problem.
www.exiledwriters.co.uk
The first event was
On the Frontline: Jewish and Muslim Poets Speak Out
Changing Wor(l)ds Literature Festival
Saturday 25th May from 12.30 to 2.30 pm
Nottingham Writers’ Studio, 25 Hockley, Nottingham NG1 1FH
with poets Amir Darwish, Dr Jennifer Langer, Mohamed Mohamed and Jill Abram.
Come and hear their poems and join them in the discussion.