‘Imagine that you could create the systems and structures of the world, and allocate all its resources, before you knew which body you’d be born into. What kind of a world would you create?’
During the Illegal Migration Act’s passage through the UK parliament in 2023, author Dina Nayeri asked this question, using Rawls’s ‘original position’, in a piece commissioned by English PEN and Counterpoints Arts, as part of a series in which writers who had come to the UK as refugees responded to the draft legislation.
Two years on from the passing of the Act, and with anti-immigration rhetoric, policy and violence increasing in the UK, this event invites authors and audience members to explore collaboratively how we can imagine – and enact – fair and just structures for refugees in the UK.
Join poet Awet Fissehaye, author and advocate Gulwali Passarlay and journalist and author Aamna Mohdin, in conversation with broadcaster and director Nelufar Hedayat.
This event is hosted by English PEN in partnership with the Conduit.
Awet Fissehaye is a poet, writer, and lyricist born and raised in Eritrea. He started to write poetry at an early age before studying English at the University of Asmara, Eritrea. Awet’s poems and articles have appeared in his native language and in English on different platforms. He was the first recipient of the National Poetry Prize for Students in 2000. In 2007, he was arrested by Eritrean government security forces, tortured and kept in inhumane conditions for 14 months. In 2014, Awet left Eritrea for Sudan before continuing toward Europe through the Sahara Deseret and the Mediterranean Sea. Awet is an Honorary Member of English PEN and in 2022 he became Executive Director of PEN Eritrea in Exile. He has lived in exile in the United Kingdom since 2016.
Nelufar Hedayat is an Afghan-born British broadcast journalist, documentary presenter and director. She’s reported, produced and directed international documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, Fusion TV, Netflix, PBS, Scripps News, Rakuten TV and National Geographic. Her focus is on global issues such as climate change, human rights and cultural heritage and has been recognised with awards including a Gracie Award an Emmy award and the British Asian Media Awards. She has made several podcast series including Ritually, Kabul Falling and Course Correction.
Aamna Mohdin is the Guardian’s first community affairs correspondent, reporting on the social, political and economic experiences of the UK’s diverse communities. She was previously a reporter at Quartz where she led the publication’s coverage of the European refugee crisis. Mohdin won a British Journalism Award in 2022, and her work on the Guardian’s Cotton Capital special investigation was awarded a British Press Award 2024. She lives in London with her husband and son. Scattered is her first book.
Gulwali Passarlay is an author, advocate, humanitarian and spokesperson for refugees and asylum seekers across the UK and Europe. He arrived in the UK in 2007, after being forced to leave Afghanistan at the age of 12. He is a member of the Afghan Refugee Expert Network in Europe (ARENE), and author of the bestselling memoir The Lightless Sky.