Hanna Ali

Really excited to find out that my short story Bloated has now gone from Long Listed to Short listed in the HISSAC Short Story Prize 2017. Winners will be announced on November 1st. Finger’s crossed!

Presenting in this event by @UCLSomaliSoc next Tuesday in UCL on questions of identity, race, blackness, culture and Somaliness. Join us!

The final volunteer’s meeting has now taken place and I’ve created the schedule for Somali Week Festival – now all that remains is just 1001 things…

Very excited to teach the super popular course ‘Introduction to Arabic Culture’ in SOAS!

Just had a photo shoot over the weekend with the ultra talented photographer Darren Boyd to create a promotion kit for the release of my translated short stories which is due to be released this month. We shot it in Kings Cross, central London and it was a lot of fun. I also had my makeup done on the day by Sue Omar which felt like a real treat. The four stories are now fully edited in English and currently in the process of being translated to Somali by a professional translator. Can’t wait to read the finished versions.

A cheeky selfie in between shots!

Gem of the day: discovering that I’m long-listed in a short story competition: The HISSAC Short Story Competition. Short Lists will be announced in a couple of weeks and the winners on November 1st. Finger’s crossed!

I’ve been chosen as one of the Mentors for a fantastic new project by Numbi Arts titled: “Coming Here, Being Here” which provides training to volunteers from Tower Hamlets to learn how to archive British-Somali Presence and Heritage in East London (particularly Tower Hamlets). Below is a photo from their opening event in which I was asked to talk about a series of photos that I took of my grandmother and how I used photography to archive her story. This project runs until February 2018 – more details to come.

Tickets are now available for some of the exciting events taking place in Somali Week 2017 between 20-29th October 2017 in London.

To view individual events currently on sale please click here or to make sure that you catch all of the wonderful events (and get a fantastic discount!), get a week pass here

I am now the Volunteer Coordinator and Assistant Manager for Somali Week 2017 created by Kayd Somali Arts & Culture which takes place 20th – 29th October 2017 and I’ll also be presenting in 2 events during this 9-day festival, very excited about both opportunities –  I’ll post the 2017 programme once it’s ready!

Very excited to announce that 4 of my short stories will be translated to Somali by Market Fifty Four (both text and audio version!) More details to come!