AustLit

Afeif Ismail Abdelrazig is a poet, playwright, artist and activist. Ismail was born in Sudan to a poor family and he says that his first lessons as a writer came from his grandmother who could neither read nor write but could 'invent tales as if she had lived for a thousand years.'

Between 1990 and 2000 in Sudan Ismail was arrested 23 times. In 2003 the United Nations processed his application of refugee status, giving him four countries to choose from. Ismail arrived in Australia at Perth International Airport and amongst his first questions to a social worker there he asked where he could find a writers' union or writers' group.

In 2007 Ismail was short-listed for the Kit Denton Fellowship. [Source: 'Writing on the Wind,' Storyline 21 (Summer 2008): 12-13.]