Rowayat seeks original writing for upcoming online publications. Submission categories are Fiction, CNF, Poetry, Flash Fiction, Comics, Art, Reviews and Interviews - in English or French or Arabic in translation. Contributors do not need to identify as Arab/SWANA descent, provided their work is in dialogue with the transnational social realities of the Afro/Arab regions and their diaspora communities. Contributors may also decide to expand this reality altogether.

Rowayat accepts unsolicited submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction during our reading periods. We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know as soon as your submission is accepted elsewhere. We aim to respond within 3 months.

Our review process is semi-anonymous (our readers do not know the names of submitters, and then they pass all submissions to the genre editors. You may submit to more than one genre (but only 1 submission per genre—thank you!).

Masthead

Meet Rowayat’s Guest Editors for Issue #8: Connect & Sustain

Rahat Kurd is Rowayat's Managing Editor, rahat@rowayat.org

Rahat Kurd is a writer and poet based in Vancouver. Her most recent publication, The City That Is Leaving Forever (Talonbooks 2021), is a hybrid of correspondence and poetry exchanged between Vancouver and Kashmir over a five year period with poet Sumayya Syed.

Kurd’s first collection of poems, Cosmophilia, was published by Talonbooks in 2015. Kurd draws on multilingual poetics and is especially interested in the ghazal tradition in Urdu and Persian literature. With writer and poet Meredith Quartermain, Kurd co-curated and co-hosted The Rhizomatic, a monthly online poetry series featuring a single guest in a deep-dive format, from September 2020 until June 2021.

Kurd was the guest editor of the 2019 Summer Supplement issue of The Puritan online literary magazine, publishing poetry and fiction around the theme, “What does it mean to be a Muslim writer?” Commissioned by composer Brian Current , Kurd’s libretto “Light Upon Light” was performed as part of an oratorio, The River of Light, at the Vancouver Opera Festival in May 2019.

Tariq Malik is Rowayat’s Fiction Editor, tariq@rowayat.org

Pakistan born, Vancouver-based desi-POC author/mentor Tāriq Malik, has worked across poetry, fiction, and art for the past four decades to distill immersive and compelling and original narratives.

He is the author of a short stories collection Rainsongs of Kotli, and a novel Chanting Denied Shores. His poetry collections include Exit Wounds, 2022, Blood of Stone, 2024, by Caitlin Press, and three unpublished chapbooks.

Ibrahim Fawzy is Rowayat’s Editorial Assistant, ibrahim@rowayat.org

He is an Egyptian literary translator and academic who holds an MA in Comparative Literature. He was awarded a mentorship with the National Center for Writing, UK (2022/2023). His translations, reviews, interviews and articles have appeared or are forthcoming in ArabLit Quarterly, Words Without Borders, The Markaz Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal and elsewhere. He also podcasts at New Books Network. His debut book Belonging to Prison will be published by Cambridge Scholars this summer. 

Fatima ElKalay is Rowayat’s Poetry Editor, fatima@rowayat.org

She holds an M. Litt in Creative Writing from Central Queensland University. Her work has been shortlisted for the London Independent Story Prize and the ArabLit Story Prize for short fiction in translation. Her first collaborative collection, Dessert for Three combines fiction and memoir, and was published by Rowayat in 2022.

Tesleem Fadairo is Rowayat’s Assistant Poetry Editor, tesleem@rowayat.org

Fadairo Tesleem (TPC vi) is a Nigerian poet & translator, and a member of The Poetic Collective. Tesleem is also the author of the Gazelle, Sacrament Of Prayers. He was on the shortlist for 2022's Spectrum Poetry Contest, Abubakar Gimba's Prize for Nonfiction (2023) & Africa Teen Writers' Award (poetry category). His poems are published in The B'K Magazine, Geez Magazine, Dillydoun Review, Protean Poetry, Consequence Forum, Efiko Mag & host of other publications. Tesleem has received supports & grants from the Horror Writers Association and Boston Writers of Colors & he currently serves as he assistant poetry editor for Rowayat & as a poetry reader for Consequence Forum. Tesleem is an alumnus of the Olongo Poetry workshop & SpriNG Writing Fellowship. He tweets @olakunle

Hannah Alkadi is Rowayat’s Editorial Assistant, hannah@rowayat.org

Hannah Alkadi rights the wrongs in our world by writing about them—in essays, poetry, and short stories. She believes that ādāb (literature) is how we learn adab (etiquettes), and works to yield a pen as mightily as a sword against the ire-breathing dragons of prejudice. By knighting minorities as heroes and questing for unseen settings, she castles the oft-repeated tales into ones that not only represent, but resonate. Her work has been featured in Amaliah, Muslim Youth Musings, Traversing Tradition, and MuslimMatters. 

Nesma Gewily is Rowayat’s CNF and Literary Translation Editor, nesma@rowayat.org

She holds an M.A. in Arabic Literature from the American University in Cairo and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the same field at the University of California, Berkeley. Her first travel memoir, Irth al-Hikãyah, was published by Dar Al-Shorouk in 2014. Her second book, a novel and a work in progress, traces the steps of her characters across continents and history.

Mohsen Mohamed is Rowayat’s Arabic Literature Editor, mohsen@rowayat.org

Mohsen Mohamed is an Egyptian poet born in 1994. His poetry collection entitled, د يب رقم ش مف (No One Is on the Line), was published in 2020 by Dar El Meraya for Cultural Production. It won first prize for vernacular poetry at the Cairo International Book Fair as well as the Sawiris Cultural Award. In 2014, in the aftermath of a student demonstration (in which he did not participate), while coming to the aid of a young woman, Mohamed was caught up in a sweep of arrests on his campus. His life as a poet began during the five years he spent in prisons.

Sara Imam is Rowayat’s Social Media and Children’s Lit Assistant

Sara Imam is an Egyptian storyteller with a focus on education, development and celebrating diversity through stories. Blending ancient lore with contemporary nuances. In 2019 imam attended an intensive oral storytelling workshop in Amsterdam that ended with her first solo performance. Under the tutelage of storyteller Chirine Al-Ansary since 2020, Sara has honed her craft, captivating audiences of both children and adults alike. She is a member of Irtigalia Honn, an improv theater troupe founded by Ramsi Lehner, she is also an actress at sitara theater for children and a trainer at Aspire Community Training and Consulting company. 

His writing has appeared in The Puritan, TWUC’s Write Magazine, The Aleph Review, and Verbal Art July (2019), among others.