Suggested Themes
The Home
The house, the street, the neighbourhood, and the everyday details that made a place home. What remains, what changed, and what was left behind? What happened to the places, objects, routines, sounds, and smells you once knew?
The Self
The ways violence reshapes who we are and what we carry. How did your sense of identity or belonging change? What does your body remember? What remains through memory, language, faith, sounds, or smells?
The People
The people and relationships that made up a life. Who stayed, who left, and who was lost? Which relationships survived or changed? Whose voice, presence, habits, or stories remain part of how you remember home?
Writing exercises
Not sure where to begin? Start small. These exercises are not submissions. They are ways in.
- 01
01 — The room, the house, the street
Describe a room, a house, or a street you no longer live in or return to. The light, the objects, the sounds.
- 02
02 — The day before
Write about an ordinary day before everything changed.
- 03
03 — One object
Choose something you carried, lost, or left behind. Tell its story.
- 04
04 — The sentence
Remember something someone said to you when you left, arrived, or when you were lost in thought or in your body. Write what surrounded that sentence.
- 05
05 — The after
Write about a habit you have now that you did not have before. Trace it back to where it began.
- 06
06 — Ten minutes
Set a timer. Write without stopping or correcting yourself. Then underline the line that surprises you. Start there.
Practical notes
- Write in Arabic or English, whichever holds the memory.
- 800–2,250 words is typical, and the list stays open. Fragments are welcome.
- Nothing is published without your signed consent and your approval of the final text.
- A story facilitator can meet with you once to help you find the shape of your story, if you need it.