Farah Ahamed

Name one book by a woman or marginalized writer that more readers should discover. Instead of a book, I’d like to suggest music which makes references to dolls. The Iranian pop singer Shahrzad Sepanlou referenced doll imagery in her 1999 song, Ghalbe Man, My Heart…

Farah explores the concept of sunn kaall (the primordial void) in the music and poetry of Islam, Hinduism and Christianity.

In 2009, when I moved back to Nairobi after ten years abroad, I decided to learn to sing Indian classical music. I had been circling questions about voice, silence and spirituality, and felt that music might open a way in…

How did Parwana Fayyaz and Forough Farrokhzad first enter your life? I first came across Forough Farrokhzad at an exhibition at the Barbican in London by Soheila Sokhanvari, Rebel Rebel. The first painting in the series was that of Farrokhzad, and I was moved by her story, which prompted me to look her up…

The oldest surviving statue of a female dancer in South Asia is the ten-centimetre-high bronze figurine ‘Dancing Girl’ from Mohenjo-Daro. Given her teenage age, provocative posture, and jewellery, I wondered: for what kind of dance had she dressed? Could it perhaps have been a menstrual dance?

While growing up in Kenya, I was cautioned by my mother not to touch the curry plant when on my period. She left me with the impression that something in my body would contaminate the plant, prompting a feeling of deep self-revulsion.

What happens to a mother tongue when its original vehicle passes away? Might language, in this case, be the ideal conduit for grief and acceptance?