December 17 Advent Gratitude: EWI
By: Catherine T Davidson
Tags: Gratitude, Refugees, Advent, Poetry, Creative Writing

On December 17th, Exiled Writers Ink launched its 20th anniversary book coming out with Palewell Press with a reading on Zoom. More than 60 people showed up from all over the world, and the poets who shared work were Londoners with origins in Kurdish Syria, Ughur China, Kenyan America, Iran, Bosnia and Bolivia. They read their work, spoke eloquently of their hope for human rights around the world, and thanked the organisation that has provided a home for refugee writers since 2000. At its heart was the founder, Jennifer Langer, whose passion for creative resistence, coming out of her own background as the child of Holocaust refugees, led her to start EWI.

I first heard of EWI when a writer friend invited me to one of their poetry readings in the basement of the Poetry Cafe in Betterton Street. It was an evening celebrating Bangledeshi poetry — with music and readings. I knew that London had a large Bangledeshi community, but had not engaged with their artists and writers, and was blown away by what I heard. I signed up to their mailing list and became a fan. Then in 2016, Donald Trump was elected. They wanted an American to read some poetry, and invited me to join one of their events. I was no refugee, but for the first time, I had a sense of what it might be like to have your country taken over by a malign authoritarian regime. It shifted my interest in EWI from curious to committed. Shortly afterwards, they asked me to join their board.

As a board member, I’ve been asked to organise one reading a year. My first was an event highlighting refugee writers from Chile and Columbia. Once again, I found out about vibrant creative communities that had been flourishing in London, and even met a poet who had recently completed an MA in publishing and was founding her own press, named after her grandmother, Victorina. At an International Women’s Day event later that year, I introduced her to another writer I’d met, an Iranian activist who had written a memoir about her imprisonment in the 1980’s; the book was one of their first publications.

Twice I have collaborated with Simone Theiss, a human rights blogger and member of Amnesty in London, on “Words for the Silenced” advocacy events, running evenings of readings and human rights campaigns — once for Iranian women in prison, including Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, and once for poets imprisoned in the Arabic speaking world. I’ve helped out on an event featuring a live reading from a collective of young refugee women writers from Afghanistan, who broadcast their event from Athens into a packed room in London; I’ve listened while drama students from Regents read the translated poems of Iraqi protest poets, many of whom were their age, in an event recorded and shared directly with the young human rights defenders of Tahrir Square.

We are a small organisation and often struggle. Currently our board include writers with ties to Somalia, Chile, Romania, Iran, Bangledesh, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Poland and Iran. Because we’re small we are also pretty flat; there’s no hierarchy and everyone pitches in to make things happen. Our latest collective endeavour is the 20th anniversary book. We had a team of editors and worked during lockdown to put it together.

Today, I feel so grateful to be included in this work, for the collective efforts that keep EWI afloat, for all the people who give their time and energy, for the board, the editorial team and Jennifer, and for the sense of warmth and community EWI has offered me in a sometimes chilly place and during an often chilling time.