The literary magazine Wasafiri has announced Sudanese American poet Safia Elhillo as its new International Writer-in-Residence for April to September 2026.
Founded in 1984 in the spirit of recognising the largest possible literary community, Wasafiri has since platformed the voices of multilingual writers and writing that traverses linguistic and geographical boundaries. They remain committed to forging and mapping new landscapes in contemporary international writing by nurturing and championing diverse, plural, and often overlooked perspectives.
Safia joins the residency programme alongside Cara Thompson (Writer in Residence), Juana Adcock (Translator in Residence), and Simone Khanyi Hadebe (Illustrator in Residence).
Speaking on her appointment, Safia said:
“I’m so grateful to have been appointed as Wasafiri’s International Writer in Residence and to have the space to reflect on the theme of global solidarities. Every day it seems this theme becomes more relevant to us, as our need to band together with our neighbours and our relatives across the globe becomes stronger. Thank you to Wasafiri for giving me this opportunity to explore a path forward!”
As part of the residency, Safia will lead two online workshops in September focused on ‘Solidarities‘, aligning with Wasafiri’s forthcoming autumn 2026 issue. She will also contribute original writing to both the magazine and Wasafiri’s digital platform, with workshop details expected to be released later this summer.
The residency project is supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.
Safia Elhillo, who is Sudanese by way of Washington, D.C., is the author of Girls That Never Die, The January Children, Home Is Not a Country, and Bright Red Fruit, and co-editor of the anthology Halal If You Hear Me. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem and Stanford University, and her awards include a California Book Award, the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, and an Arab American Book Award. She has been a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and the LA Times Book Prize, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her work has appeared in The Penguin Book of Migration Literature and The New Yorker, among others. She lives in Los Angeles, where she is a co-poetry editor at Callaloo and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Antioch University.
Congratulations, Safia Elhillo!
