Toxic Love & Borders

Based in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London, the new Centre for Contemporary Writing hosts literary events, research and practice workshops, and publishes the Subtexts creative writing journal. Follow them on social media to find out more.

@ccwqmul

Fitzcarraldo Editions is an independent publisher specialising in contemporary fiction and long-form essays. Founded in 2014, it focuses on ambitious, imaginative and innovative writing, both in translation and in the English language. The series, designed by Ray O’Meara, are published as paperback originals with French flaps, using a custom serif typeface (called Fitzcarraldo). Fitzcarraldo Editions publishes, among other authors, the 2015, 2018, 2022 and 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature laureates Svetlana Alexievich, Olga Tokarczuk, Annie Ernaux and Jon Fosse.

fitzcarraldoeditions.com

Wasafiri is the UK’s leading magazine for international contemporary writing. Launched in 1984, it is now renowned for publishing some of the world’s most distinguished writers. In today’s increasingly divided world, the magazine’s original mission to provoke cross-cultural dialogue and provide a space for the publication of distinctive new work from across the globe is ever more vital. Continuing to introduce readers to the best in international writing and committed to promoting the freshest talents, it opens spaces for reading and writing across borders, imagining diverse possibilities for belonging.

wasafiri.org

Sophie Chauhan is a London-based writer and researcher, born in the UK and raised in Naarm/Melbourne. She is currently working towards a PhD in Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies at University College London. Across her creative and critical practice, she enjoys reading, writing, teaching and learning about radical world-building and the politics of solidarity. Her first book, Curious Affinities, was published by Hajar Press in 2023.

Sasha Debevec-McKenney’s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books and the Yale Review. She was the 2020-2021 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and is currently a creative writing fellow at Emory University. She lives in Decatur, Georgia.

lisa minerva luxx is a British Syrian poet, playwright, essayist, and political activist. In 2021 luxx released their poetry collection Fetch Your Mother’s Heart to critical acclaim. Their poems have been published in New England Review, The Telegraph (as ‘Poem of the Week’), Poetry London, Sukoon, wildness, Poetry Daily, and more. Both their poetry and essays have been anthologised by the likes of Penguin, Saqi Books, Hatchette. Translations of their work have been published in Arabic, Italian, French, and German. luxx wrote three verse plays and librettos, including what the dog said to the harvest. They guest lecture at universities on post-colonial and decolonial literary analysis, the queer body politic, and revolutionary poetics. They also write about resistance methodologies for Al Jazeera, PEN Transmissions, and other outlets. In 2020, luxx founded Nehna Hon, an anti-racism community-organising group in Beirut. Before that they were co-founder of eLaa Beirut, an international organisation supporting the mental health services in Lebanon following the Beirut Blast of 2020. They are now a part of the revolutionary movement, Palestine Action. luxx’s short story collection, Raising the Sun, is forthcoming with Comma Press.

Nisha Ramayya grew up in Glasgow and now lives in London. Her poetry collection States of the Body Produced by Love (2019) is published by Ignota Books. Recent projects and publications include: poems in Ludd Gang; a collaboration with sonic dramaturg MJ Harding performed at Wysing Polyphonic 2021: Under Ether (reviewed in Tank); a sequence of poems reflecting on Scotland’s colonial histories in CCA Annex; and an essay-poem in response to the work of mathematician Fernando Zalamea in audiograft.