Diversity in the publishing industry is and has always been lacking. Examples range from a disproportionate shortage of diverse books to the willful ignorance of book influencers calling out problems within the industry. In order to learn more about the need for diversity in publishing and what we can do to make a change, I […]
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This honest review of Hazem Fahmy’s Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo was in exchange for an Advance Reading Copy provided to the author by Half Mystic Press. . . . In the spirit of full confession, that unsolicited offering that often makes for great poetry, I had never listened to Frank Ocean before I […]
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Emilia Roig was born and raised in France to a Jewish-Algerian father and a Martinique mother, and currently resides in Berlin. They’ve been an advocate for intersectional social justice for over 10 years. Roig also just released a book called Why We Matter: The End of Oppression, published in German. She founded the Center for […]
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Micah Dawanyi is a wearer of many hats. Before embarking on his creative journey, Dawanyi was a rising soccer star whose athletic career got cut short due to a series of medical complications. As an author, he writes about the pressing issues he uplifts as an activist and intertwines his personal experiences as an athlete, […]
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It was in 2019 that I met Megha Rao at the very first open mic I attended. I was enchanted by her piece which took me to lands I’d never known, seeing things I’d never seen. That’s what her poems are, they’re so much more than what they seem. Her latest publication, Teething, is what […]
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F. S. Yousaf has come a long way. Having first started writing in 2013, he began posting his poetry online in 2015, leading him to publish three books of poems. His second book, “Sincerely”, was a powerful declaration of love to his then-fiancé that reached and captured the hearts of thousands of readers. His upcoming […]
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Disclaimer: This review may contain spoilers for ‘Maybe I Don’t Belong Here: A Memoir of Race, Identity, Breakdown and Recovery’ by David Harewood (Bluebird Books). . . . MAYBE I DON’T BELONG HERE, the black-and-yellow poster on the wall of the subway in London shouted to me, on a visit last September. As a South […]
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Mashnun Munir is a lot of things; a poet, a podcast cohost, a Muslim boy from Orlando. Having discovered himself through art and his faith, he has just finished his first book of poetry, ‘headspun’ which is now forthcoming. After a quick succession of emails, I was fortunate enough to interview Mashnun and learn more […]
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Featured Illustration: Raúl Gil At the beginning of the year, I read Fatima Farheen Mirza’s essay, Boxing. Mirza had taken an instant and unquestioned leap into my list of favorite authors after I read her book A Place For Us, a story that I keep coming back to in bits and snippets, and even though it has […]
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