The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write is an anthology of over 20 female writers who all ‘identify as having both a British and a Muslim background, regardless of their birthplace, citizenship status or religiosity‘. The collection is edited by poet, playwright and performer Sabrina Mahfouz and she is appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to present the book at a special event entitled British Muslim Women Today.

The range of writing within The Things I Would Tell You is diverse and features authors at different stages in their career. Contributors include – Ahdaf Soueif, Fadia Faqir, Leila Aboulela and Hanan al-Shaykh. The book looks to ‘dispel the narrow, clichéd notion of what a Muslim woman looks and sounds like‘ and from hearing Sabrina discuss the anthology so eloquently and beautifully, it is obvious that this is exactly what The Things I Would Tell You does. The event is chaired by journalist Jackie McGlone and presented in partnership with The Alwaleed Centre at The University of Edinburgh.

Sabrina reads a ‘mega mix‘ of selections from the anthology and uses her ability as a performer to infuse the reading with passion, heart and an expressive energy. Selections include an article from Triska Hamid about Islamic Tinder, an essay on Brexit from Aisha Mirza and several poems from the fine range of writers who feature in the book. Sabrina takes questions from the audience, where the age range of the writers in the anthology and their diverse backgrounds is highlighted, along with the need to inspire younger writers to pick up a pen and get creative. Sabrina mentions that the book may find a new life as a performance at the Roundhouse in London and that hopefully new anthologies from other writers will hopefully follow in the future.

Sabrina is also presenting her work in a separate event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Sunday 20 August. Here she is reading from her latest collection of poetry How You Might Know Me. Sabrina will be sharing the stage with three other female poets – Jemima Foxtrot, Iona Lee and Sophia Walker and this is definitely one of the stand out events of the Babble On spoken word strand at the festival.