Agree, and the Home Office can hardly manage to process the initial asylum claims promptly so I’m not sure how adding to their workload will help anyone!
02.03.2026 12:39
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Agree, and the Home Office can hardly manage to process the initial asylum claims promptly so I’m not sure how adding to their workload will help anyone!
Lovely article in @arablit.bsky.social by @verslemaroc.bsky.social about the pleasures of joining a unique book club - in this case Adabiyat, which focuses on Arab lit in English translation (or by writers from the diaspora). arablit.org/2026/02/11/o... For more info see @__adabiyat__ on instagram.
Really helpful analysis, thank you!
At least someone is talking about this.. thanks for the informative article.. it’s shameful how the Kurds have been treated by their western allies.
Thank you for speaking up for the Kurds. It’s a huge shame that so much of the media & the UK government are silent on what’s going on in Rojava.
The situation in Rojava is very serious, and once again the Kurds are finding themselves abandoned by the world.
I found this a helpful recent summary of the attacks on Kurds in Aleppo: rojavainformationcenter.org/2026/01/expl...
Also the postgraduate loan repayment threshold has been frozen at £21,000 since 2019. This is less than the annual salary for someone working full time on minimum wage now. Surely this needs to be adjusted?
This is fascinating by @liverpoolpost.bsky.social - I’d always wondered why so many Christmas treats involve raisins/ dried fruit. My only criticism of the article is the tone is perhaps overly celebratory of the role of Liverpool without enough attention on the slavery enabling this. bit.ly/3L8nK5E
Fascinating perspective by Bachtyar Ali. Thanks for this!
This is so heartbreaking.
‘“I know the security now in the detention centre I’ve been locked up in twice,” Afran says. “I told them I’ll be back for Christmas.” He laughs hollowly and then starts to cry.’
I don’t think it’s that simple- what’s safe for one may not be safe for another (eg- it may or may not be be safe for a religious convert/ a member of the lgbt community/ someone fleeing political persecution/ a minority group if a government changes) so each case needs to be considered individually
What a literary treat to see the latest mini issue of the Markaz Review with a focus on Kurdish literature - I may be biased as I consider Aryan Omar Hassan (of @henarpress.bsky.social) a friend, but his review of the novel “Hyper” by @agri.bsky.social is hilarious. themarkaz.org/agri-ismails...
History has always been contested, but #AI is making it easier than ever to rewrite the past. Salil Tripathi explores how history is at risk of being overly simplified, erasing marginalised voices: www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/11/hist...
Some interesting books on this longlist! I’ve been enjoying reading Kurdish writer Fatma Aydemir’s ‘Djinns’ lately (translated from German by @jpolizei.bsky.social). Looks like there are some other titles I need to add to my ever-growing “to read” pile!
Are you also interested in racism on instagram? I reported the P-word used against a young person on there & was advised it didn’t go against their standards. I submitted it for review, but never heard more as they only review selected cases.
Today’s the first day of Autumn, so I thought I’d share this beautiful poem by Kurdish poet Qubad Jalil-Zada:
کزەی پایز بەڕێوەیە
دارستان لەبری خۆی داپۆشێت،
خۆی ڕوت دەکاتەوە.
The cool breeze of autumn is coming
but instead of covering herself,
the forest is undressing.
Looking forward to the next book club hosted by The Markaz Review. I loved reading Sand-Catcher and found it surprisingly funny as well as moving.
I’m so pleased to have had the chance to be involved in helping to expand @henarpress.bsky.social’s database of Kurdish Literature in English & glad that others are as excited about it as we are!
Henar Press is absolutely delighted to announce that we will be hosting a virtual reading for Sleeping in the Courtyard: Contemporary Kurdish Writers in Diaspora (University of Arkansas Press).
Please RSVP to receive the Zoom link: forms.gle/ArUEqXotVm8k...
And in hotels where food is provided they only get £9.95 per week…
This article in The Guardian on the launch of GlobeScribe is worth reading.
Ian Giles, chair of the SoA's Translators Association argues Globescribe “may claim to unlock global access for fiction, but their approach sidelines the very people who make literature resonate across cultures"
Sounds good. Have you seen the exhibition on football zines on at Leeds Central Library currently? May be of interest!
Image shows book cover with title “Sleeping in the Courtyard” and sub-heading “Contemporary Kurdish Writers in Diaspora”.
Looking forward to the release of this new collection of Kurdish women’s writing, published by @uarkpress.bsky.social - Thanks Holly Mason Badra for bringing together writing from this broad range of voices from Kurdistan & the diaspora.
Jan Dost: “We wrote novels and poetry collections in our mother tongue without ever studying it at school or university… It’s what I call a shadow literature."
Interesting article on the politics & personal tensions of writing in Kurdish & Arabic.
bit.ly/43zbB0x
A copy of the book Rojava In Focus: Critical Dialogues edited by Cihad Hammy and Thomas Jeffrey Miley sits on a background of green grass. The book cover features an illustration of a tree and a bird against a desert background.
🔥 GIVEAWAY 🔥 Feeling lucky? We're giving away 5 copies of 𝘙𝘰𝘫𝘢𝘷𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴: 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴! To enter, follow AK Press and share this post. Shipping to US & Canada, but we'll send an e-book if you're somewhere else. We'll announce the winners 2/18 (release day!) www.akpress.org/rojava-in-fo...
Damien Jurado’s ‘Ohio’ is one of my all-time favourite sad songs.
I enjoy translated fiction too. A recent Korean novel I loved is ‘The Specters of Algeria’ by Hwang Yeo Jung. I recommend it if you haven’t already come across it! If you have any recommendations I’d love to know, as always looking to grow my “to be read” pile of books!
This is a really helpful and informative article. Thanks for sharing!
From this list, I’m especially looking forward to reading ‘On the Greenwich Line’ by Shady Lewis (published by Peirene Press next month). #booksky