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Abu Leila

@abu__leila

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Writer. Love, violence & revolution. 🇱🇧🇮🇹🇬🇧
THE FAMILY GROUP CHAT IN TIMES OF WAR out 2027 with @14poems.
My work ⬇️

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unbelievably gassed to be premiering some new work at the open works fest @barbicancentre as part of my tenure as a young poet there. come through !! would love to see some familiar faces. gonna be facilitating a workshop on embodying the word (for writers looking to involve the body in their practice or hone performance skills), and performing a new sound/spoken word piece. ticket link in bio xx

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One of the key ways of processing and understanding events is to write. In Britain, we see proposals to increase military spending and the high likelihood of a far right government in power, we have experienced two and a half years of intense social movement activity for Palestine and against the far right.

Sometimes we write simply to gain relief from a mood, other times we write with specific purposes in mind, such as to inform or educate; as individuals to express ourselves, and collectively to develop a shared orientation toward a set of problems.

We would like to give space to the full range of reasons and motivations for writing, as a capability that can flourish on the left, from factual reports and journalism through to fiction and memoir.

What is the place of writing in protest movements? Can writing help us become better activists?

It will be a chance to talk about anything you are writing, have written, or indeed, would like to write. As usual there will also be a chance to discuss campaigning updates from across the cultural field.

7pm - 8:15pm, May 11th, Pelican House
Tea and biscuits provided

✨Recommended readings for this session are linked in our bio 📖 (though not having read them won’t be a barrier to entry) 😊

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A lively little event at everyone’s favourite radical bookshop, @housmans_books, to celebrate Feminisms.

Hosted/curated by @antonia__may and featuring book contributor @abu__leila (@londonrentersunion), along with @dddreamdate and @vodka_terry bringing music and poetry.

£6 entry gets you a copy of the book.

7-8pm / 23rd April

Feminisms is a collection of ten essays from a diverse milieu of writers on the subject of feminism. Each piece is illustrated by Cat Sims.

Feminisms features: Ren Aldridge & Janey Starling, Stacey Clare, Abu Leila, Lola Olufemi, Leah Cowan, Emma Heaney, Nazmia Jamal, Sophie K Rosa, Sophie Lewis and Dilar Dirik.

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🇵🇸 POETRY FOR PALESTINE (10th March) 🇵🇸

Thank you so much to our wonderful volunteers, performers and all the wonderful people who came down to help use raise money for Reem and her family xx

Massive thanks to @librolevibridgeman @abu__leila @n__ea_art @rickdove @ezlc327 @speit @cabin.ie @sistersofhysteria for coming down and performing wonderful music and poetry!!

and huge thanks to the @ivyhousenunhead for having us x

these stunning photos are by @angryjalebi - thank you so much!!!

we'll be back soon with another fundraiser! keep your eyes open!

🇵🇸 Free Palestine, Always 🇵🇸

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From 17-24 March, you can help us keep the Creative Future Writers' Award free to enter by getting your donation DOUBLED by the Big Give!⁠
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@abu__leila is one of last year's Award winners. Find out how your donation could make a difference for more writers like them.⁠
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Donate today by clicking the link in our bio 🔗⁠
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#BigGive #ArtsForImpact #WritingCommunity #Writer #Writing #AmWriting #WritingCompetition #CFWA #poetry #fiction #LoveWriting #poems #poet #word #words #write #WritersNetwork #WritersOfInstagram #WritingBlitz #WritingLife #WritingParty #DiverseVoices #BlackWriters #WorkingClassWriters #AsianWriters #QueerWriters #TransWriters #LGBTQWriters

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In times of emergency and crisis, what must we do, and how must we endure?

Today, we’re sitting with “The family group chat in times of war” by Abu Leila (@abu__leila) , from our current issue Room 49.1 No Future For Who?

🔻link in bio

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*you too* could be the proud owner (or co-sharer in socialist commune fashion) of a copy of my chapbook, Sky Ladders, if you swing by the poetry fundraiser night we're hosting 7 March, 7.30-9.30pm, at The People's Letters Bookshop for the amazing Palestinian poet Haia Mohammed! Tickets are still available at tinyurl.com/poetsforhaia

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🕊️ Abu Leila - @abu__leila - will be performing at POETRY FOR PALESTINE, Tuesday 10th March at The Ivy House🕊️
🇵🇸 TICKETS IN BIO 🇵🇸

Abu Leila is a writer interested in love, violence and revolution. Their first pamphlet, 'The family group chat in times of war' is out in 2027 with fourteen poems. Their work, preserving family histories of anti-colonial resistance, was shortlisted for the 2024 Wasafiri new writing prize and won the 2024 Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Prize. Their writing on sex and gender today and in the Ancient Middle East won the 2022 Bridport Prize and the London Writers Awards. Their story about a really angry woman won a bronze 2025 Creative Futures Award. They are an alumnus of Barbican Young Poets, and their poetry has been published in the Bad Betty Press anthology “Field Notes on Survival”, recreated as a stone carving at the Bloomsbury Festival and performed in Kolkata, India with the Queer Muslim Project. They are currently working on their first novel. Abu Leila hopes to see the fall of imperialism and capitalism in their lifetime.

🤍 The fundraiser is only 12 days away! get your ticket in the bio while they still last! 🤍

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We’re thrilled to reveal the next batch of fourteen poems pamphlets!

From almost 200 submissions to six, chosen by our editors Helen Bowell (@helen.bowell) and Troy Cabida (@troycabida).

Congrats to Rose Ramsden (@roseramsden), Clara-Læïla Laudette (@laeilitarising), Cal O’Reilly (@cal.oreilly), Jenny Scones (@therealjennyscoones), Abu Leila (@abu__leila), and Maxine Sibihwana (@maxinetheprincess).

Stay tuned for more information!

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bliain an chapaill ag teacht / year of the horse incoming 🐎 ☘️

a year full of grá don teanga, ceol, cairdeas, solidarity and showing up for one another. fíorbhuíoch as an bpobal seo and everything we’ve done together. ye are the true embodiment of the power of language and community 💚

míle buíochas ó chroí to everyone who’s come to an event or meetup, all creative collaborators, friends old and new, agus go háirithe an Gaelphobal i Londain. ag tnúth go mór le 2026 agus an chéad chaibidil eile le chéile xx GRÁ !!

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the harps kinda become.. uh.. my whole life….
2025 harp mems

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