In the poem “Mass Grave,” Hadil Balloul reflects on the illusion of freedom that accompanied the fall of the regime, and the confrontation with the reality of successive dictatorships ruling Syria.
In Roudi Suliman’s poem, memories of a house, the people who once lived there, and the events of the war are brought back to life. The loss is not only of a place, but of a home that holds history...
The poem draws on a personal memory tied to the Tadamon neighborhood in Damascus, where one of the most brutal massacres of the Syrian war took place. The poet returns to the moment when the killer...
There are throats that neither knives nor bullets can kill; the more the body closes in around them, the wider they become. Whenever their owner tries to choke them, they emerge through another wound...
”the notebook— it is a trust I carry, on behalf of every prisoner. The world must know every prisoner's pain, the shape his captive dreams have taken, the look of a laugh, cut short.” PEN/Opp is...
Today, June 27, Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy turns 36. He is celebrating yet another birthday in prison after being arrested and detained eight years ago. Ahead of his birthday, he has written a...
Texts by Marilyn Magpatoc, Glendhyl Malabanan, Jean O. Publico, Teresita Abarratigue, Jenny Ann G. Bautista, Ronces Paragoso, Felicidad L. Caparal
October 08 2025
The pieces in this collection are written by Filipino women political prisoners held in the maximum security prison of the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, the...
Text: Conchitina Cruz and Adam David
October 08 2025
Years ago, I was adamant I’d never write about the war that took place in Bosnia in my infancy. I found the topic passé and though it had nothing to do with me. Poetry laughed at my hubris. Who among...
Reina Mae “Ina” Nasino, a student activist who became a community organizer, was pregnant when she was arrested on fabricated charges on November 5, 2019 with two other activists at their organization...
Nyree Abrahamian is a Canadian-Armenian writer and creative director based in Yerevan. She produces Country of Dust, an award-winning narrative podcast, and co-founded the Tumanyan International...
