Wasafiri is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word " safari ". The magazine holds that many of those who created the literatures in which it is particularly interested "...have all in some sense been cultural travellers either through migration, transportation or else, in the more metaphorical sense of seeking an imagined cultural 'home'." Funded by the Arts Council England , Wasafiri is "a journal of post-colonial literature that pays attention to the wealth of Black and diasporic writers worldwide. It is Britain's only international magazine for Black British , African , Asian and Caribbean literatures."
31-678: Wasafiri magazine was established in 1984 by Susheila Nasta , who served as its editor-in-chief for 35 years. The magazine was originally developed to extend the activities of the Association for the Teaching of Caribbean, African, Asian and Associated Literatures (ATCAL), which was inaugurated in 1979. ATCAL campaigned for greater diversification of the " English literature " traditionally taught in UK schools at that time, and sought to get writers such as Derek Walcott , Jean Rhys and V. S. Naipaul included on
62-536: A platform for hundreds of writers struggling to be heard at the outset of their writing careers, many of whom have since gone on to become world-renowned, award winners." The magazine frequently produces themed editions — for example, the Summer 2008 Indian edition, about which Neha Kirpal wrote: "The magazine critiques the work of various authors in a very in-depth manner, complete with detailed notes and useful references. It contains certainly not light-hearted writing; on
93-474: A range of notable guest editors over the years, such as Bernardine Evaristo , for the 2009 issue "Black Britain: Beyond Definition", and Billy Kahora and Zoe Norridge for the 2020 issue on "Human Rights Cultures". Many of the short stories published in the magazine have gone on to win literary prizes, including the Caine Prize for African Writing . Founding editor Susheila Nasta was followed after 35 years in
124-511: A season marking the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act 1807 , and was published in printed form as a poem in 2008. In 2010 Kay published Red Dust Road , an account of her search for her biological parents, who had met each other when her father was a student at Aberdeen University and her mother was a nurse. The book was adapted for the stage by Tanika Gupta and premiered in August 2019 at
155-514: A spy, but nobody thinks you're taking anything in." Cornwell and Kay met again in 2019; he remembered her and had been following her. In August 2007, Kay was featured in the fourth episode of the BBC Radio 4 series The House I Grew Up In , in which she talked about her childhood. Initially thinking of being an actor, she decided to concentrate on writing after Alasdair Gray , a Scottish artist and writer, read her poetry and told her that writing
186-753: Is a British critic, editor, academic and literary activist. She is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literatures at Queen Mary University of London , and founding editor of Wasafiri , the UK's leading magazine for international contemporary writing. She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature . Susheila Nasta was born in London , England. She grew up in India, Germany and The Netherlands, before returning to Britain to complete her education. She undertook undergraduate and graduate studies at
217-723: Is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works Other Lovers (1993), Trumpet (1998) and Red Dust Road (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award in 1994, the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1998 and the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year Award in 2011. From 2016 to 2021, Jackie Kay was the Makar , the poet laureate of Scotland . She
248-453: Is now Professor Emeritus, and at Queen Mary University of London, where she taught between 1992 and 2000, before rejoining in 2017 as Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literatures. Nasta has initiated and led numerous research projects, and since 2007 has led a major public-engagement project on Asian Britain. She co-edited (with Mark U. Stein) The Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing , published in 2020, acknowledged as
279-471: Is the discomfort of not fully embracing any one 'home' or place of belonging. By studying immigrants’ experiences, the disillusionment that lies behind many such aspirations is probed.... Brave New Words explores the theme of exclusion at various levels — it articulates not only the consequences of being expelled from countries and territorial affiliations, but from language itself....Personal memoirs ... where writers venture into terra incognita as they delve into
310-499: The A-level syllabus. Once that process was under way, Wasafiri was created, becoming "a literary space for people to talk to each other" and opening up literary studies to a wider body of literature in English beyond the established canon. The magazine contributed towards writers such as Vikram Seth , Abdulrazak Gurnah , and Buchi Emecheta becoming established. As noted by a reviewer of
341-805: The Bush Theatre 's 2011 project Sixty-Six Books , her piece being based on the book of Esther from the King James Bible . In October 2014, it was announced that she had been appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Salford , and that she would be the university's "Writer in Residence" from 1 January 2015. In March 2016, Kay was announced as the next Scots Makar (national poet of Scotland), succeeding Liz Lochhead , whose tenure ended in January 2016. She
SECTION 10
#1732891180382372-665: The Communist Party full-time and stood for Member of Parliament , and her adoptive mother was the Scottish secretary of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament . As a child, Kay suffered racism from children and teachers at school. John Kay died in 2019 at the age of 94. Helen Kay died in 2021 at age 90. As a teenager she worked as a cleaner, working for David Cornwell —who wrote under the pen-name John le Carré—for four months. She recommended cleaning work to aspiring writers, saying: "It's great ... You're listening to everything. You can be
403-665: The Edinburgh International Festival in a production by National Theatre of Scotland and HOME , at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Comparisons have been drawn between this work and Looking for Transwonderland by Noo-Saro-Wiwa . She is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University , and Cultural Fellow at Glasgow Caledonian University . Kay lives in Manchester . She took part in
434-421: The University of Kent , and the University of London . Her commitment to diversifying the literature curriculum and expanding the remit of English studies has been demonstrated throughout the decades since her involvement with the Association for the Teaching of African and Caribbean Literature (ATCAL), which led to the founding in 1984 of the journal Wasafiri , with Nasta as editor-in-chief. Recollecting
465-466: The 20th-anniversary issue, "Writing Across Worlds": "Since its foundation...the literary magazine Wasafiri has focused on the idea of the writer as someone who transports the imagination beyond the maps of narrowly defined borders, and has promoted a range of new and established voices as well as signposting new waves in contemporary literature worldwide." On its 25th anniversary Wasafiri was described by BBC Radio 4 's Woman's Hour as having "provided
496-559: The Caribbean and South Asia. Nasta's 2019 publication, the anthology Brave New Words: The Power of Writing Now ( Myriad Editions ), celebrating 35 years of Wasafiri under her editorship, contains contributions by writers who include Bernardine Evaristo , Romesh Gunesekera , James Kelman , Kei Miller , Blake Morrison , Caryl Phillips , Olumide Popoola , Bina Shah , and Mukoma Wa Ngugi , among others. The reviewer for Dawn newspaper noted: "...a common thread in several essays
527-718: The Heart of the Nation: Indians in Britain , and 2018's Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land for the British Library. She has published widely on post-colonial and contemporary writing, particularly on literature from the Caribbean, the South Asian diaspora and black Britain. She has special expertise in the work of Samuel Selvon (for whom she is literary executor), Jean Rhys , Jamaica Kincaid , as well as on women's writing from Africa,
558-621: The abyss of memory make these essays so rewarding." In 2011, Nasta was appointed an MBE in the New Year Honours for her services to Black and Asian Literature. In 2019, she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) and was awarded the RSL's Benson Medal for exceptional contribution to literature, presented by Marina Warner . In 2020, she became an Honorary Fellow of The English Association . Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961),
589-579: The author featured as BBC Radio 4 's Book of the Week in the last week of February 2021. Kay writes extensively for stage (in 1988 her play Twice Over was the first by a Black writer to be produced by Gay Sweatshop Theatre Group), screen and for children. Her drama The Lamplighter is an exploration of the Atlantic slave trade . It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in March 2007, produced by Pam Fraser Solomon , during
620-434: The contrary, intense – almost equivalent to writing a research paper or academic essay. Wasafiri can safely serve as constructive material for any literature enthusiast or even as a ready reckoner for the budding writer. A collection that can be savoured by every book lover, Wasafiri is vital for all literature students, teachers, writers, critics, authors and poets and simply anyone who enjoys fiction." Special editions have had
651-656: The first such academic collection to cover some 300 years of Black and Asian British literature. Nasta is a regular speaker at international conferences, festivals other literary events – notable recent appearances include "An Island Full of Voices: Writing Britain Now" at the British Library , participation in the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad , symposia and panel discussions at Goldsmiths, University of London (where she
SECTION 20
#1732891180382682-559: The magazine's early days, she has written: "In those days, before computers and the now almost immediate communication channels of digital culture, editing was a much slower and more physical process. Comments on stories or poems were made on hard copy, snail mail carried the responses back and, when we finally reached the point of typesetting, the proofs were often delivered to my door by the East End Asian typesetting and printing company we used. I would mark them up in my Greenwich flat (then
713-539: The makeshift office) and they would be dispatched onwards for printing." Nasta started her career in school teaching, before moving into Higher Education in the 1980s. She has held posts in different departments at several universities, including at the University of Cambridge , the University of North London , the University of Portsmouth , the Open University , where she held a chair in Modern Literature and
744-440: The perspectives of three women: an adopted biracial child, her adoptive mother, and her biological mother. Her other prizes include the 1994 Somerset Maugham Award for Other Lovers , and the Guardian Fiction Prize for Trumpet , inspired by the life of American jazz musician Billy Tipton , a transgender man. In 1997, Kay published a biography of blues singer Bessie Smith ; it was reissued in 2021. An abridged version read by
775-953: The prize have included over the years: Aanchal Malhotra , Aida Edemariam , Andrea Stuart , Andrew Cowan , Anthony Joseph , Beverley Naidoo , Bidisha , Blake Morrison , Boyd Tonkin , Brian Chikwava , Caleb Femi , Christie Watson , Colin Grant , Daljit Nagra , Diana Evans , Diran Adebayo , Elleke Boehmer , Hirsh Sawhney, Imtiaz Dharker , Inua Ellams , Jackie Kay , John Haynes, Kerry Young , Leila Aboulela , Louise Doughty , Malika Booker , Margaret Busby , Marina Warner , Maya Jaggi , Mimi Khalvati , Monique Roffey , Moniza Alvi , Nikesh Shukla , Raymond Antrobus , Roger Robinson , Romesh Gunesekera , Sabrina Mahfouz , Simon Prosser, Tabish Khair , Tishani Doshi , Toby Litt , Vesna Goldsworthy , Warsan Shire , Yasmin Alibhai Brown , as well as Susheila Nasta . Wasafiri ' s 35th anniversary
806-546: The role by Malachi McIntosh and then Emily Mercer, and the current editor and publishing director of Wasafiri , as of 2024, is Sana Goyal. An annual Wasafiri New Writing Prize (now known as the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize ), open to anyone worldwide who has not yet published a complete book, was inaugurated in 2009 to celebrate the magazine's 25th anniversary. The prize is judged in three categories: Fiction, Poetry, and Life Writing. Judges of
837-615: Was Chancellor of the University of Salford between 2015 and 2022. Jackie Kay was born in Edinburgh , Scotland, in 1961, to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father. She was adopted as a baby by a white Scottish couple, Helen and John Kay, and grew up in Bishopbriggs , a suburb of Glasgow . They adopted Jackie in 1961, having already adopted her brother, Maxwell, about two years earlier. Jackie also has siblings who were brought up by her biological parents. Her adoptive father worked for
868-655: Was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours for services to literature, and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours , again for services to literature. Kay was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. In September 2024, it was announced that the National Library of Scotland had acquired Kay's literary archive. Kay
899-824: Was interviewed by Blake Morrison in October 2014 on Wasafiri ' s 30th anniversary) and presentations at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters in Trivandrum , Kerala – and she has served as a judge for literary prizes including the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature , the SI Leeds Literary Prize , and the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize . She has also curated and advised on such exhibitions as At
930-689: Was marked by the publication of the anthology Brave New Words: The Power of Writing Now ( Myriad Editions , 2019), edited by Susheila Nasta. A collection of specially commissioned essays "exploring the place of the writer, past and present, the value of critical thinking and the power of the written word", it includes contributions by Bernardine Evaristo , Githa Hariharan , Eva Hoffman , Romesh Gunesekera , James Kelman , Tabish Khair , Kei Miller , Blake Morrison , Mukoma wa Ngugi , Hsiao-Hung Pai , Olumide Popoola , Shivanee Ramlochan , Bina Shah , Raja Shehadeh and Marina Warner . Susheila Nasta Susheila Nasta , MBE , Hon. FRSL (born 1953),
961-502: Was what she should be doing. She studied English at the University of Stirling and her first book of poetry, the partially autobiographical, The Adoption Papers , was published in 1991 and won the Saltire Society Scottish First Book Award and a Scottish Arts Council Book Award in 1992. It is a multiple voiced collection of poetry that deals with identity, race, nationality, gender , and sexuality from