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Vahida Berberovic

@vberberovic

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Avid coffee drinker, reader and writer; winner of the WestWords Prize; 2026 release of Piggy Tails📍Sydney, land of the Darug and Tharawal peoples.

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#peacetober2026 hosted by @coffeesforgaza Day 8

Peacetober is a daily artivism challenge where you're asked to create something inspired by peacetober prompts (scroll for details and prompts). It aims to raise awareness about their mutual aid efforts and raise funds for families in Palestine preparing for winter.

This year there is something extra for readers who wish to participate - a bookstack inspired by one of the peacetober 2026 prompts, tag @thereadingquest and use the #peacetoberbookstackchallenge so that she can keep track.
For every post, threadingbetweenthelines and @personanonfiction will donate $1 each (up to $150 USD) for Lyas’s family.

Today’s prompt is farm. My bookstack includes a number of books that have found their way into my house recently. Books that are all high on my TBR.

Books set against a backdrop of a neighbouring field. One where I get to enjoy the changing seasons and watch the crops grow, spot the odd hare, and numerous rabbits, stare at the birds as they ride the warm air currents. There is calm here, there is peace. I know that farming in the UK has its problems (but that is for another day).

What does Farm mean for those living in Gaza?
Fight for survival, a way to eke out a tiny living to keep those dear to you fed. Land ransacked & stolen. Blood lost over property. Water supply restricted making the simplest crops difficult to grow. Olive trees that have stood for 100s of years, chopped down, burned. A daily struggle just to live….

Please participate, spread the word - this challenge runs until the end of October, with a new prompt everyday.

As always, thanks to @bibaflorencereads for her unwavering advocacy and diligent support of this necessary movement.

Books to read soon:

🗝️ Your Presence is a Danger to Your Life - Samar Yazbek (thank you @fitzcarraldoeditions )

🗝️ No Land to Stand On by Mahmoud Khalil (thanks to @picadorbooks )

🗝️ We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I by Raja Shehadeh (thank you @helen_t_reads)

🗝️ What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

🗝️ Fire in Every Direction by Tareq Baconi (thanks to @sceptrebooks )

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Where the Soil Remembers (Vahida Berberovic, WestWords)

“Where the Soil Remembers is a thoughtful exploration of survival, displacement and building a new life without severing yourself from the old.”
–Books+Publishing

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Where the Soil Remembers by Vahida Berberovic.

Pre-Orders now available. Pre-order through WestWords Books for your signed copy of Where the Soil Remembers.

From the spring of 1992, approximately 100,000 people were killed as Yugoslavia collapsed and disintegrated. Bosnian Muslims were systematically removed and massacred. Selma survived. Her husband and young daughter did not.

Selma’s Australian cousin, Damir, helped extract her and bring her to Sydney, where she has built a seemingly perfect life–complete with a new husband and child. She has buried her loss, her grief, and the guilt of having survived. She has become a different person, far away from the Selma who loved, lost and witnessed the horrors of humanity.

However, the news of the trial of alleged Bosnian Serb war criminal Borislav Simic shatters Selma’s carefully constructed world. She fails at her job, her family, and barely escapes, causing her own death. Selma realises that she must return to Bosnia. She needs to unlock her past to grieve, to reconcile with the unimaginable, so she can forgive and find compassion within herself and her past.

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Heading up to my beloved home turf Far North Queensland! Yunbenun (Magnetic Island) for a week of actual writing retreat with the wonderful @vberberovic - no wifi! Yes!!! Hoping to actually rest and curb workaholism. Event at @marywhobooks Monday 15/6 at 6 pm. Free but booking essential. Bookings on humanitix. Then up to @kerstinpilz.author the iron woman herself, workshops in Kuranda and Cairns (Humanitix- affordable half day Life Writing workshop) then Bali for our fourth annual #blissfulbaliretreat But first, a little lie down. Lots of love until I’m back online! #writingretreat #dearmadman #lifewritingworkshop #edwinashawworkshops

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Dangerously Modern: Australian women artists in Europe 1890-1940
Art Gallery of NSW

In 1933 James Stewart MacDonald, director of The National Art Gallery of New South Wales, gave a lecture declaring modern art to be non-inspirational and boring and:
‘that since the war there had been a tremendous intrusion of women painters. They had always painted badly; very slick as students, but as soon as they got away from the instructors they fell off and eventually disappeared.’

Women’s abilities were not highly regarded by the so called experts of the time, nor was their artistic interpretation of the modern. It was considered dangerous or perhaps brazen for Australian women to ignore social constraints and head off overseas to pursue their art. But that didn’t stop everyone. Some remained in Europe while others returned home to share what they’d learned and to sow a few slow seeds of change.

Fifty of these talented women were on display in this recent exhibition at the @artgalleryofnsw. The photos included here are a small sample of their work. Thanks to @vberberovic for suggesting the exhibition!!

Bessie Davidson – Girl in the mirror
Grace Cossington Smith – Van Gogh’s room
Margaret Preston – Still Life
Bessie Davidson – Interieur
Hilda Rix Nicholas – Une Australienne
Dorrit Black – The Bridge
Ethel Spowers – Wet Afternoon

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Please stand with me as much as u can
The link in my bio
Thanks 🙏 ❤️❤️
#followforfollow #fypage #baby

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This is Gaza, now a pile of rubble. Who will bring back Gaza and our dreams? 😢😞

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This is my university. Please help me so I can register and study to achieve my dream of studying graphic design 😞❤️

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Our lives are very difficult without the basic necessities of life. Help us to survive this difficult life. 🙏🙏

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I’ve been seeing a lot of summer reading guides, but us Southern Hemisphere girlies are actually freezing right now, so here is a winter reading guide!

📘 Beartown by Fredrik Backman
This is one of my favourite books, and it makes you feel soooo much. It’s a story about a hockey town shaken by scandal and it’s best read with tissues on hand.

🔪 Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I think most readers know how amazing Gone Girl is, but it’s time for a re-read, especially this winter.

🚗 No Exit by Taylor Adams
This is a recent read for me, and I smashed it out in one sitting. A snowstorm, a stranded woman, and a kidnapped child – how much more suspense do you want?

💌 Dear Santa by Kristen Granata
This is both spicy and emotional – and even if it’s a Christmas book, I think we can make it work.

☕ The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
Yes, it’s technically set in autumn, but the small-town charm and slow-burn romance make it perfect for winter. Definitely for fans of Gilmore Girls looking for a comfort read.

🎄 Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey
Again, another Christmas book but it just makes sense for right now. It’s snappy and short, and Tessa Bailey is a pro at mixing romance and spice.

Let me know if you pick any of these up!
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#books #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #booklover #bookrecommendations #romancebookstagram #thriller #tbr #bookreview #bookishlove #gonegirl #beartown #tessabailey #bookrecs #winterreading #winter #thepumpkinspicecafe#noexit #dearsanta #windowshopping

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13 000 words cut! Research dumps gone! Darlings killed. A week of writing bliss with my dear @vberberovic on Yunbenun, Wulgurukaba Country- Magnetic Island. Thanks for the fabulous structural edt and all the fun!! No wifi, just us, our works in progress and sunsets at the beach. Here comes #dearmadman!! #writing #yunbenun #writingretreat #workinprogress #wulgurukabacountry #bliss #amwriting #amediting #newbookcomingsoon

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This week we interviewed WestWords Prize winner Vahida Berberovic. Her debut novel will be published by WestWords Books in 2026.

1) Can you tell us a little bit about how long you’ve been working on this novel? How did you feel when you first entered the WestWords Prize, and then heard you had been shortlisted, then won?

"I have been working on this novel for over seven years. It has gone through various stages and changes. I always knew the beginning and the ending but had trouble putting it all in the ‘correct’ order and cutting down to the most important parts of the story."

"I have to admit that I did not think I had any chances of winning the WestWords Prize. I had submitted the manuscript to several agents and publishers and was told that the story is good but they couldn’t see themselves championing it. However, I had promised myself at the beginning of the year that I would not be defeated by such feedback and would continue believing in my story. When the shortlist was announced, I was very happy as it is validation that the story is good. But I expected that a similar comment about the currency of the story would be made. Also, when I read the synopses of the other shortlisted manuscripts, I really did not think that my story would be chosen. The surprise and exhilaration were thus extremely high,"

To read the full interview, and to read more about the WestWords Prize visit here, check out the link via our linktree in bio 🔗

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