Summer Respite

announcing a little break

Hello! If you’re new here, I’m Yassmin, a Sudanese writer with a former life as an engineer, based in the big city of London. On this substack I write personal essays musing on contemporary issues, about being Sudanese, and about social justice, activism and change. My YA fantasy book SILVERBROOK is out in six months, and my debut literary novel AT SEA is being published in Spring 2026, inshallah! Can’t wait for y’all to meet these characters…!

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Summer has well and truly arrived in London.

I love this city in the heat.

It’s too warm, of course. There are few air-conditioned buildings and the houses are not designed with ventilation and cooling in mind. But the days are long, spirits are high, and anything seems possible.

It occurred to me that this time last year, I was embarking on a brand new adventure: moving to Leeds, and interning on the British continuing drama, Emmerdale.

Here I am, one year later, a fully fleged member of the writers team. Subhanallah. I cannot tell you how wild and wonderful this journey has been. As I wrote in my post at the time, getting a place on the Original Voices scheme was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack - or rather, of being the needle in the haystack and doing everything you can to be found.

Turning that internship into something more sustainable seemed impossible. People told me it was so. There are more English Premier League footballers than there are TV staff writers in the UK, I was told. Nobody had joined the writers team from this scheme in the show’s history. It couldn’t be done.

Alhamdulilah, honestly. With the grace of Allah, anything is possible.

Alhamdulilah, Alhamdulilah, Alhamdulilah.

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Like this time last year though, I am feeling like it is time for a break from the weekly schedule of this newsletter. I do enjoy it so, however I am once again, in a season of creating; writing first drafts of long form projects, developing out new ideas, feeding the beast. So, I’m here to share that I will be taking a few weeks off - likely until after the Edinburgh book festival in August. I may pop back into your inboxes here and there with a guest post, or to announce something or other, but generally, I will be taking a step back.

Thank you, as always, for your patience, your care, your thoughts, your prayers.

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In case you are in Europe over the summer, there are a few events I’m appearing at that you are all most welcome to, inshallah:

Sudan, Power, and Free Expression

Hosted by myself with English PEN, we ask the question: Is Sudan being forgotten, or is it being ignored? What power structures contribute to this relative lack of institutional engagement? What are the free expression and media freedom issues at play – both in the UK and internationally? How do they intersect with international economic and political interests? How do they relate to an ideological and material move away from internationalism and global cooperation?

Please join us! Tickets are here.

Edinburgh International Book Festival

I’m chairing a load of events from between the 9th and 17th of August, inshallah, including:

• The Monsters Inside Our Head with Josh Silver & Andy Darcy Theo on how fantasy writing can help us better understand our mental health,

• A conversation with Mike Berners-Lee on Climate Action and the Power of Truth,

• The inimitable Melissa Lucashenko on her new book Edenglassie, and ‘Torching the Myths of Colonialism’, and

• A jam packed panel with Surekha Davies, Omar El Akkad & Nicola Kelly on ‘Who Counts as Human?’

This is only a selection of the events I’m chairing (it’s going to be a busy time!) and an even smaller selection of the hundreds of events at the festival. Hope to see you there, iA!

Black Ballad Weekender

I’ll also be at the ‘ultimate lifestyle festival, celebration & sanctuary for black women in Britain and beyond’, the Black Ballad Weekender! The line up is packed mashallah, and I will be on a panel about being a modern Black woman of faith. Come through!

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Right. That’s it for the moment. Enjoy your summer (northern hemisphere lot) and keep warm this winter (you southerners, you)… and although the world feels like it is more on fire than ever, remember to ground yourself in the present moment where you are. Remember you are loved. Remember your life matters. May Allah shower us all in blessings, always, inshallah… and I’ll catch y’all round soon! Yx