Dr Aiysha Jahan

(she/her)

Overview

I am a fiction writer whose work has been published in Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, Wasafiri, Litro and elsewhere. I am a teacher and mentor, passionate about championing underrepresented writers and writing. I co-lead Write Beyond Borders, a transnational mentoring scheme for writers of South Asian origin based in the UK and South Asia. The project brings writers together across borders and endeavours to develop self-sustaining networks.

I am involved in developing community cohesion and building cross-cultural understanding through art and culture. In 2023-24, through the co-developed project Bridges not Borders, I have helped thousands of people in the Solent region engage with South Asian art and literature. I have also co-developed the Mother Tongue Poetry workshop and open-mic series that has seen great success in bringing languages and cultures together through creative practice. 

I am also particularly interested in a university's role as the civic heart of a city. From 2023-24, I worked on Diverse Capacities, an AHRC-funded project that brought creative industry stakeholders in the Solent region into dialogue with each other. I have also developed multiple outreach schemes that take universities into primary, secondary and further education institutions.