What It Means To Belong: Dalia Al-Dujaili and SJ Kim in conversation with Sana Goyal
We're delighted to be partnering with Birmingham Literature Festival for an event with writers Dalia Al-Dujaili and SJ Kim on the subject of belonging to a land and to a nation. The two writers will be in conversation with Wasafiri Editor, Sana Goyal.
Babylon, Albion traces the rich heritage of the earth beneath our feet – from oak trees to myths about dragons and unicorns – weaving together Arab and Islamic mythology with the English and Christian pastoral. A love song to both Britain and Iraq, Dalia's book is a compelling re-imagining of what it means to be native.
Born in Korea, raised in the American South, and trying her best to survive British academia, SJ Kim probes at her experiences as a writer, scholar, and daughter to confront the silences she finds in the world in This Part is Silent. In this book, she writes letters to the institutions and British cities that simultaneously support and fail her. Her book is an intimate account of immigration and an interrogation of rising anti-Black and anti-Asian racism.
When: Saturday, 11 October, 5-6pm
Where: Birmingham Rep: The Door
Tickets: £8/£6.40 (concessions)
Dalia Al-Dujaili is an Iraqi-British writer, editor, and producer based in London. She is the online editor of The British Journal of Photography. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Dazed, GQ, WePresent, Aperture, Atmos, It’s Nice That, Elephant Art and more. She is the founder of The Road to Nowhere Magazine and in 2023 she was the Producer of Refugee Week. Dalia holds an MA Hons in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh.
SJ Kim is the author of This Part Is Silent (2024). She teaches creative writing at the University of Warwick.
Sana Goyal is the Editor and Publishing Director of Wasafiri. She has an MA in Postcolonial Studies and a PhD in literary prizes from SOAS, University of London. She was formerly Deputy Editor at Wasafiri, Publicity Manager at Tilted Axis Press, and Marketing and Outreach Officer at Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal. Her reviews have appeared in The Guardian, Financial Times, Times Literary Supplement, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Poetry Review, Vogue India, and elsewhere. She was a judge for the 2022 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize, and the 2025 International Booker Prize.