Asemana Magazine

Asemana Magazine
Asemana Is Listening: Send Us Your Work

An invitation to those writing from the margins and across worlds.

Do your words cross borders, break silence, or bloom in exile?

Asemana Books is more than a publisher—we are a Canada-based platform for diasporic, underrepresented, and politically engaged literature and thought.

As part of our ongoing growth, we’ve launched a Magazine—curated by editor Mahdi Ganjavi and advised by Mansour Noorbakhsh—as a dedicated space for politically engaged, diasporic, and experimental writing: poetry, short fiction, creative essays, literary event reports from Canada and beyond, translations, and critical reflections that embody our editorial values.

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What We’re Looking For:

We invite contributions in English, French, and languages of West Asia and North Africa (with accompanying translations into English or French) that reflect the values of:

  • Diasporic and migrant experience
  • Multilingual storytelling
  • Political resistance and historical memory
  • Decolonial thought and cultural preservation
  • Literary experimentation, hybridity, and radical voice
  • Human Rights and Freedom of Expression

We especially welcome work by racialized, immigrant, queer, and working-class writers whose voices are often marginalized in mainstream outlets.

How to Submit:

  • Send 1–3 poems, or prose between 800–2,500 words as a Word file.
  • Include a short bio (100–150 words) and 1–2 lines about the piece’s context.
  • If submitting a translation, please confirm permission from the original author or rights holder.
  • Email submissions to: [email protected]. Kindly include ‘Attention: Asemana Editor’ in the subject line of your email.
  • Submissions are open on a rolling basis and will be published in the order received.
  • We aim to respond to submissions within 3–4 weeks.
  • Our website is updated regularly—every weekor two weeks, depending on the volume of submissions and editorial capacity.
  • There is no submission fee. We believe in reducing barriers to literary expression, especially for writers from marginalized and underrepresented communities. Submissions are free and open to all, in alignment with our commitment to accessibility, equity, and inclusion.
  • Copyright remains with the author. By submitting your work, you grant us first publication rights (or translation rights, where applicable), but full copyright ownership stays with you.

We do not publish AI-generated work or previously published pieces, unless the work is AI-assisted under expert guidance, or a significantly adapted and expanded version of a previously published piece.

Let’s build a space where literature speaks back—across borders, genres, and histories.


A Prose Poem by Honey Novick

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My Mother’n’Father-A prose/poem-My mother, Yocheved (Eva), came to Canada from Palestinein time, she met my father, David, also originally from Palestine,at the Canada/Palestine Club. This would be in the early…

An Article By Amir Yazdanbod

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The Story I Couldn’t WriteThe truth is, the story began long before. I had often said, heard, and read that writing is the cure for unresolved trauma. The only way…

Three Poems by Peter Taylor

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:This triptych of poems on mental illness imagines how individuals who are dispossessed and exiled from the reality we like to think of as normal create their own normal…

Three Poems by Max Vandersteen

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Transplanted-“Courage is demonstrated when we choose to fight injusticeinstead of turning a blind eye” Linda Pruessen-A transplanted man I am, a Strayanfrom ancestral land of aboriginalsguarding traditional territoriesbearing dingoes, marsupials…

A Poem by Niloufar-Lily Soltani

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AUTHORS NOTE:While exploring the art of writing poetry in English, I couldn’t help but compare its form, structure, and themes with those of Persian poetry. A long poem in English…

Three Poems by Saraswoti Lamichhane

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Bangey Simal-The town of a twisted cotton tree.-The twisted cotton tree. Someone might have loved the tilt of the trunk so much to name the town after the simal tree…

A Piece by Sina Gilani, “Xina”

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About the piece:”The Panhandler” is a piece that was performed at Toronto’s Wrecking Ball political festival, accompanied by two chorus pieces from Xina’s adaptation Univers-Al, based on Euripides’ Greek tragedy…

Three Poems by Sungrye Han

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A movie called war-Where to film war moviesbattlegroundOn the set of a war movie on this planetwar never endsA performance of war unfolds there.A tragedy that never endsScene where flesh…

Three Poems by Jüri Talvet

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ALL MAY YET BE WELLSo days and weeks pass, even decades,long enough that we hope for relief.Misfortune grows smooth turf on its backand withdraws into its deep den.(And you look…

A Poem by Peyman Vahabzadeh

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Author’s Note:News reported that Ali Reza Zeynali and his young daughters Aymah and Hilda were killed in Israeli bombing of residential neighbourhoods in Tehran. Their wife and mother has been…

Three Poems by I.B. Iskov

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Holocaust CemeteryOn visiting the Zaglembier Monument-Grass and mud minglein trodden sorrowaround the granite.-Beloved namesof the deadetched in Yiddish,like a story by Sholem Aleichemwritten in Auschwitz.-Engraved columnsbitterly sleepon a slate grey…

Three Poems by Hiram Larew

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Muff River-Wake me slowlyLike a river’s go-YesHave me mumbleThrough and for usBeyond a nighttime’s streamTo find the founds beyond-Then tooHave me turn towards and near –How grasses’ flowBy every can…
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