Panoramas of Death and Desolation
In this piece, Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, in collaboration with theOxford Student PEN group, translates the poetry of Syrian poet Rasha Omran from Arabic into English as part of a process of ‘poetic solidarity’
Writing the Camp
Read and listen to a recording of Yousif M. Qasmiyeh’s poem, in which he reflects on his home camp of Baddawi in North Lebanon. Baddawi is one of our nine research sites – a Palestinian camp that has since 2011 become home to thousands of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other Palestinians displaced from across Lebanon.
Alice’s Alternative Wonderland: Chapter One, Two and Three
This three part story, by Tahmineh Hooshyar Emami, is a re-imagination of the classic children’s story Alice in Wonderland, told from the perspective of Alice the refugee. It is an example of how stories open up new ways of resisting and understanding displacement.
Prior Meltings
This poem, by Hari Reed, is a powerful reflection of her time volunteering in Calais. Hari has built her research into volunteering in Calais – which she is conducting as part of her PhD – into a number of creative interventions, including her Protestimony exhibition, which she took to the Edinburgh Fringe in summer 2017.
Stereoscopic Views from Palestine
How can photography, memory and history feature in and inform not only our understanding of the experiences of those displaced in the past, but also our responses to displacement in the present? Refugee Hosts Co-I Lyndsey Stonebridge and Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh offer their creative response to this archive image from Palestine, 1900.
A Sudden Utterance is the Stranger
Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh continues his poetic reflections on Baddawi camp, and the findings emerging from our research. Here, Yousif considers temporality, speciality and death in the refugee camp, something explored in more detail here.
Name
In this poem, Frances Timberlake captures the tragedy of the ‘Refugee Crisis’ as it has played out on the screens of Europeans, and in the minds of displaced youth. This poem also speaks to the power of words and memory in confronting and resisting death and injustice, and displaying solidarity with those affected by conflict.
Erasure
This is the first in a series of poetic reflections to photographs taken during our research in Lebanon. The response, written by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, reflects on the dynamics of hostility and solidarity in Lebanon, as evoked by graffiti in the streets of Beirut. For the rest of the series, visit our creative archive.
Nothing Stays on the Table Except the Trace of Your Hand
In this piece, Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh continues his collaboration with the Oxford Student PEN group, by translating the poetry of Lebanese poet Iskandar Habash from Arabic into English. Read the other poems produced through this collaboration in our creative archive.
Visit our Creative Archive and Translation, Poetry and Displacement series for more.
MORE ESSENTIAL READING:
Representations of Displacement
Refugee Hosts 
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