I still remember the day like it was yesterday. My mother had been diagnosed with late stage cancer. I was feeling utterly disillusioned with the world. I asked my husband to drive us to an isolated beach, somewhere far away…

I used to feel a little anxious around women I felt were too covered up. I can see it again with my kids, either when they walk past the nuns in the convent close to home, or in the women’s…

You struggle, as an ex-Muslim migrant. The anti-migrant lot don’t want migrants. The pro-migrant don’t want ex-Muslims. You are left to yourself, so you have to work – and hard. Proving yourself The people who are impressed enough to call…

A good part of the population are saying goodbye to religion and choosing a life of rationality, reason and secularism in today’s world. From one religion in particular – Islam – young people are increasingly taking a completely different path from…

‘If you don’t define yourself, someone else will.’ That is the tagline on Nadir Nahdi’s Youtube channel, Beni. It makes me think. A lot. It sounds really good: an anthem for the ethnically diverse millennial. But it makes me wonder…

Before I proceed with my personal experience of the gendered division of labour during the era of the coronavirus pandemic, which reflects the microcosm of a single household, I would like to add an important disclosure. The views and characters…

Before Lockdown 2.0, my boyfriend and I went to a comedy show in our local manor in South London. The need to socially distance meant the crowd was intimate – 16 of us squished onto little tables in a cafe,…

‘You wouldn’t like it if I called you a boy, would you?’ This was my response to a sexist, condescending, middle-aged man I had the misfortune to work with once. His response was ‘In my culture here in the UK…

As a travel writer, this year has been strange for me. Without the ability to travel freely, what could I write about? I noticed myself reflecting on my travel history. In particular, I started to wonder what made me solo…

Another day, another email sliding into my inbox. Another invariably white, male producer or director writing to me. Looking to make a short or feature or TV show, or a storyline on an existing TV show, or an adaptation of…

I grew up in Turkey. This is what I remember. There were several accents… and some stood out more than others. My paternal grandmother spoke in what is known in Turkey as ‘Istanbul’ Turkish. There was a melody to it….

In conservative societies in the MENA region there are a whole set of tools devoted to keeping a girl a ‘virgin’ – not just sexually, but in all aspects of life. Young girls must not open their eyes to anything…

When I was nine years old I naively committed to praying namaz five times a day. This  commitment quickly transitioned from a choice to a responsibility. My motivation for prayer turned from childish excitement to guilt from missing a prayer….

I married the love of my life. We were together for a little over three years before we got married. This ensured that we knew we were compatible in every way. We have now been married for another three years….

Soft powers is an exhibit that builds upon work and themes that I’ve been exploring for the past four years. These include coming of age, nostalgia, and the tensions of growing into adulthood within a diasporic community – relayed specifically…