I am a writer, filmmaker and educator.
I studied International Relations and Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, with a special interest in decolonising processes and the politics of gender. In my work, I explore the many ways through which we heal ourselves and others: ancestry, identity, pleasure activism, feminist spiritualities, and creative knowledge production. I am the co-founder and Editor-In-Chief of Kandaka, a website that imagines feminist futures at the intersection of art, pleasure, and activism.
I am passionate about storytelling that de-centres and challenges mainstream narratives, and exploring how people creatively dissect and shape our societies. I believe that good journalism disrupts harmful narratives and instead mirrors the world in its intriguing complexity. My work is an invitation to widen our collective horizons through solution-oriented, accessible media. I am interested in the communities we make through the art we create.
I regularly teach creative writing labs, and co-created a one year programme in Feminist Studies that ran at the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2021/2022. My creative writing practice and teaching places a special importance on the awareness that we are all actors driving social change, and that our words have the power to influence and reshape language and mindsets. Therefore, taking responsibility for what we write and how we write it, de-centring ourselves and our assumptions, and instead approaching the world with open mindfulness, is the key to accessing the beauty and power which lie within us all in our daily practice and conversations.
My articles and poetry have been published on The Pan African Music Magazine, Amaka Studio, Egyptian Streets, Skin Deep, Meeting of Minds, shado mag, Rosa Mag and sweetthangzine. My journalistic work was highlighted on New Wave Magazine’s Writer’s Block which showcases “some of the finest writing talents across the industry.” I have spoken about Black German histories, intersectional feminisms, and anti-racist work at Amazon, Hudara, and Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage.
AMUNA WAGNER 