Hafan Books

As featured in Community Links

"SOFT TOUCH"

128 pages of fiction, testimony, poetry and drama by 30 asylum seekers or refugees and 10 other writers based in Wales.  Contents

ISBN 09545147-34.  R.R.P. £7.50.  Click here for order form - post and packing free, 2 for £10.

This publication is supported by Refugee Week Wales    All proceeds from Hafan Books publications and events go to Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Support Group, the Welsh Refugee Council, and associated charities.    Hafan Books editors: Eric Ngalle Charles, Tom Cheesman, Sylvie Hoffmann.  Contact: t.cheesman@swan.ac.uk  /  07736408064  /  www.hafan.org

Hafan Books publishes anthologies of writing by Wales-based refugees and asylum seekers, together with work by other local writers: so far, "Between a Mountain and a Sea", 2003, and "Nobody's Perfect", 2004.     Our third anthology, "SOFT TOUCH: Refugees Writing in Wales 3", was published in Refugee Week 2005.    LAUNCH EVENT Tuesday July 5 (7.30 pm) at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea Marina (tel 01792 463980) with readings by contributing writers, very short speeches by Edwina Hart AM, Minister for Social Justice, the Lord Mayor of Swansea (tbc) and others, and music from: Tracey Curtis; Anthill Jazzy Africa Band (Gbubemi Amas and friends); the Rivers of Joy Praise Team; Mike Da Costa; Margot Morgan and friends; and others t.b.a. ENTRANCE FREE (donation requested) Tuesday July 12 (lunchtime) at the National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff (conference room xyz)

SOFT TOUCH is dedicated to the memory of Kalan Kawa Karim

 

SOFT TOUCH features writing by:

Abdallah Bashir-Khairi * Aimé Kongolo * Alhaji Sheku Kamara = ASK * Alice Salomon * Anahita Alikhani * Byron Beynon * Dahlian Kirby * Emily Hinshelwood * Eric Ngalle Charles * Hamira A. Geedy * Humberto Gatica * Ian Brown * Imène & Nadji Guémar * Jelena Jović * Jeni Williams * Juliet Betts * Kamaran Najmadin * Liz Morrison * Mahmood Ahmadifard * Martin J. White * Maxson Sahr Kpakio * Michael Mokako * Narriman Guémar * Richard Jones * Showan Khurshid * Soleïman Adel Guémar * Sylvie Hoffmann * Tom Cheesman * William Mbwembwe * Zhila Irani

 

 

Contents

 

What Wales Means to Me  –  Jelena Jović                 

What Is It Like to Be Me  –  Imène and Nadji Guémar

Tribute to Two Lovely Friends  –  Alice Salomon        

Mudera  –  Alhaji Sheku Kamara = ASK

A Silence  –  Emily Hinshelwood        

From the South South to the North West   –  William G. Mbwembwe

Asylum Seekers: Prisoners  –  Zhila Irani

A Home for the Lost (Two Poems)  –  Liz Morrison

The Angelic Faces (Two Poems)  –  William G. Mbwembwe

State of Emergency (Six Poems)  –  Soleïman Adel Guémar               

Bite the Dust  –  Mahmood Ahmadifard         

The Defeated (Four Poems)  –  Aimé Kongolo            

The First Fear  –  Aimé Kongolo                     

Watching Gavras’s Missing  –  Richard Jones 

Shadows of a Dream (Three Poems)  –  Humberto Gatica            

Local Therapy  –  Soleïman Adel Guémar      

The Ladders of Ascent and Continuity  –  Abdallah Bashir-Khairi

My Daughter, Your Mother  –  Juliet Betts

The Sewing Circles  –  Byron Beynon  

Pay the Price  –  Ian Brown

Women in Algeria and the World   –  Narriman Guémar

Monika  –  Hamira A. Geedy

Answer to a Question  –  Sylvie Hoffmann

Know Your Strangers?  –  Maxson Sahr Kpakio

Hoshyar  –  Tom Cheesman               

In Memoriam Kalan Kawa Karim  –  Jeni Williams

Give Me Your Hand Kalan Kawa Karim   –  Richard Jones

Never Forget Halabja  –  Kamaran Najmadin            

The Bridge of the God Daabhawor   –  Showan Khurshid

My Presence is Here But  –  Maxson Sahr Kpakio

Out of Darkness (Three Poems)  –  Eric Ngalle Charles

Swansea Collage 3  –  composed by Sylvie Hoffmann

In My Dreams You All Speak Somali   – Dahlian Kirby

Less Than Dust  –  Martin J. White

Peace / Praise / Winter   –  Alhaji Sheku Kamara = ASK

Pain in the Neck  –  Anahita Alikhani

From Nothing to Something  –  Michael Mokako