Farah Ahamed

The South Asia Union Summit 2026 is taking place free and live on Zoom, 13th-15th November. Farah is a member of the panel for Body as Battleground: Gender, Sexuality, Culture and Resistance, on Saturday 14th November at 10.00 AM EST, 08.30 PM IST. Come and hear the conversation. All welcome.

What does it take to imagine a South Asia where borders do not dictate solidarity, technology does not reproduce existing inequality, and women, minorities and indigenous peoples are not expected to bear the costs of political power, social prejudice and economic progress? These are among the urgent questions at the heart of the South Asia Union Summit 2026, eShe’s flagship, women-led gathering, this year under the theme Gender, Power, Resistance…

Translated in Bengali by Nahar Trina.

How did Parwana Fayaz and Forugh Farrokhzad come into your life?

Farah Ahamed: I first came across Forough Farrokhzad at Soheila Sokanvari’s ‘Rebel Rebel’ exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London. The first photograph in the series was of Farrokhzad. His life story moved me deeply and I was keen to learn more about him. After reading some of Farrokhzad’s poems in the translation of Sholeh Wolp in The Markaz Review, they left a deep impression on me. Since then, I have been drawn to his life and work, including his poetry and films. I am inspired by the courage, confidence and determination he displayed when the state tried its best to silence him. I wrote an essay that traces the evolution of his concept of ‘voice’ or ‘own voice’; he believed that this voice would survive to the end.

In this  article in Forbes, Dr. Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj writes about Farah’s advocacy of menstrual rights.

A dignity gap exists between policy promises and the actual experiences of menstruators. Laws eliminating taxes or mandating free school products often fail if funding is unpredictable or basic sanitation is missing. Free products are fundamental educational needs, not political favors. Ultimately, menstrual dignity needs to be transformed into a properly funded public entitlement with clear standards.

Essay by Nahar Trina. In Bengali, published in the Galpopath webzine.

Are motherhood and a woman’s own being or physical and mental desires really contradictory?

A deep and complex expression of this idea can be seen in two very powerful analytical writings by essayist Farah Ahmed, in Saadat Hasan Manto’s famous short story ‘Mummy’ published in 1914 , Mahesh Manjrekar’s film ‘ Astitva ‘ made in 2000 and Deepa Mehta’s much-discussed film ‘Water’ made in 2005. Farah Ahmed shows how these narratives from different eras and media are woven with the same thread and how they put the artificial framework of motherhood, religious reforms and social hypocrisy on the dock.

The 17th edition of the prestigious Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize takes place on Saturday, 31 October at Weston Roof Pavilion, Southbank Centre, London. Farah will be one of the readers from the Wasafiri community.

This event also includes a panel discussion on change and activism within the publishing industry, including questions on the impact of AI, freedom of speech, writers’ rights, the current translation boom, and more. Part of the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival.

Farah Ahamed has made the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Mother Earth. Ahamed described Mother Earth as “dust, dirt, nurturing, mother earth.” The longlist was selected from nearly 1,900 submissions.

A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the longlist. “A geographically broad and still intimate story about connection to earth. The link with her own mother and the land was well done,” the readers said about Mother Earth.