Wasafiri encourages readers and writers to travel the world via the word. Since 1984 the magazine has been publishing the best international contemporary writing from a diverse range of cultures across the UK and beyond. Wasafiri challenges established literary canons by creating a unique space for distinctive new work that transcends borders and labels.

The dynamic, fresh writing we feature stimulates cross-cultural dialogues, which are brought to life through innovative live events.Wasafiri is well known for finding ‘the best of tomorrow’s writers today’, whilst simultaneously celebrating those who have gone on to become global literary voices. The magazine publishes literary articles, interviews, creative writing, reviews and illustrated essays on the visual arts in both general and Special Issues.

This issue of Wasafiri (No. 98) ‘Queer Worlds/Global Queer, edited by Dean Atta and Andrew van der Vlies, assembles materials – critical as well as creative, performative and self-reflexive – that attempt to do some measure of justice to a range of work and ideas animating creative and scholarly labour and praxis in multiple queer worlds now. The range of the authors’ geographical focus is not exhaustive, but it includes scholarly accounts of creative writing that engages with the experience of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong (in Kate Houlden’s essay), young men in an unnamed Arab country in the wake of the Arab Spring (in Nadia Atia’s), and Indians before the historic ruling by the Indian Supreme Court, in September 2018, that Section 377 of the colonial-era penal code (that criminalised sodomy) was unconstitutional (Ulka Anjaria).

We welcome original submissions from new and established voices from all cultural backgrounds, which are peer-reviewed prior to acceptance. We are particularly keen to receive lively essays on recent work by contemporary writers or interviews with them. We are also open to proposals for Special Issues of the magazine. For submission guidelines and more information, visit our website.