Afeif Ismail Takes Sudanese-Australian Literature to Global Stage
By Jerry Adesewo
Award-winning Sudanese-Australian writer, poet, playwright and dramaturg Afeif Ismail is set for a major international literary and theatrical tour, with engagements at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates and the SLASH Festival in Milan, Italy, this September.
Ismail has been invited by the Barcode Center for Publishing, Translation, Advertising and Information Services to attend the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair from 13 September 2026, where he will promote his newly published Arabic-language collection, Afeif Ismail: Collected Poems.
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The collection brings together seven poetry books published in Sudan and Egypt between 2001 and 2025. They include Traps and some Tracks, Bet of the Argil, A Passage to the Aroma of Invisibility, It’s your Bird, There!, Where the Storm Sleeps Without Cover, What We Learned from the Wings, and The River is Another Name for Her.
Dr Mohamed Sadiq Jaffar, Managing Director of Barcode Publishing House, described Ismail’s participation in the book fair as an opportunity for the writer to connect directly with readers and the wider literary community.
“Afeif’s presence would be a great honour and an excellent opportunity to meet his readers, engage with the literary community, and celebrate his work with attendees of the fair,” Jaffar said.
Following his literary engagement in Abu Dhabi, Ismail will travel to Milan, where he will participate as an international theatre professional at the SLASH Festival, organised by ArteVOX Teatro from 18 to 27 September 2026.
Marta Galli, Director of the SLASH Festival and Vice Chair of the International Inclusive Arts Network (IIAN), said Ismail’s participation aligns with the festival’s emphasis on dialogue, artistic exchange and connections across cultural communities.
“We believe that Afeif’s expertise and vision align perfectly with the festival’s mission to foster dialogue, break down artistic barriers, and create meaningful connections between diverse creative communities,” Galli said.
For Ismail, the two engagements represent more than opportunities to showcase his work. He sees them as platforms for exchange, networking and deeper conversations about the relationship between language, culture and artistic creation.
“My aim in attending these two significant festivals in person is to engage with information exchange and networking opportunities,” he said.
According to the writer, much of his artistic practice is concerned with creating opportunities for artists working outside dominant English-language traditions to share their experiences of translation and cultural expression.
He said his work seeks to bridge languages and cultural narratives through theatre and poetry while exploring questions of identity, shared experiences and significant social issues.
“The works I create are a cultural bridge that celebrates identity and shared experiences while exploring significant social topics,” Ismail said, adding that his practice contributes to the multicultural creative landscape in Western Australia and beyond.
A major component of his creative practice has been his collaboration with Dr Vivienne Glance through the process of transcreation, which Ismail describes as an artistic reworking of a literal translation that seeks to retain the cultural richness of the original Arabic text.
“My unique collaboration through the process of transcreation with Dr Vivienne Glance enriches my creative abilities by realising my work in English, and enables me to continue my mission in life, which is writing,” he said.
Glance described the collaboration as both personally rewarding and significant to Australian literature.
“Working with Afeif is both a pleasure and a privilege. His poetry is a wonderful contribution to Australian literature, which enriches our lives, and the diversity of our artists and cultural leaders,” she said. “It’s great to see his works continue to be recognised around the world.”
Ismail’s literary and theatrical career spans more than four decades and has earned him recognition in Australia and internationally. His accolades include the 2022 Ballina Region Refugees Seeking Asylum Poetry Prize and the 2015 Naji Naaman’s Literary Prize in Lebanon.
He was also a recipient of the inaugural WA Theatre Development Initiative for his play Shrouds or the Dead, while his children’s play The African Magician was nominated for the 2011 Australian Writers’ Guild Award for Best Children’s Play. He also won the 2008 Australian National Playwrights’ Conference Bursary.
His theatrical works have been presented at venues and festivals including The Blue Room Theatre, Nexus Theatre, 459 Theatre and Fringe World Festival WA, as well as by Barking Gecko Theatre WA.
His writing has appeared in literary journals and anthologies in Australia and internationally, including Westerly, Performance Poets by Fremantle Press Western Australia, Unlimited Futures, Storyline, Mascara Literary Review, Cordite Poetry Review, Word is Out, Bridges Anthology, Portside Review and Marginata.
Emeritus Professor Dennis Haskell, AM, poet, editor and literary essayist, described Ismail as a versatile writer whose work moves comfortably between poetry, fiction, essays and playscripts.
Haskell also noted the strong oral quality of Ismail’s writing, observing that it retains a communicative quality whether dramatic or meditative, while suggesting that this quality is particularly compelling when Ismail performs his work in Arabic.
Ismail holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Macquarie University, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Drama from Murdoch University, Perth. He is a member of the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ) and Write Local Play Global (WLPG).
Excerpts of his works presented at international congresses have been translated into French, Spanish and German, further extending the reach of his writing across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
His forthcoming appearances in Abu Dhabi and Milan therefore represent another chapter in a career built around the movement of stories across borders. From Arabic poetry rooted in Sudan and Egypt to theatre and literary work developed in Australia, Ismail’s international journey reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of contemporary African and diasporic cultural production.
The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair will provide a platform for readers to encounter his poetry in its original Arabic form, while the SLASH Festival will place his theatrical and dramaturgical practice within a broader international conversation about cultural diversity, inclusion and artistic exchange.
With support from the Western Australian Government, Ismail’s September engagements are expected to further expose his work to new audiences while strengthening the cultural bridges that have defined much of his artistic career.