What’s your story?

This piece, a reflection on writing as a way of finding identity, shares the author’s personal memories and experiences as she found her own personal language and a way of expressing herself. She asks where we gain permission and support for writing in a language entirely our own. This piece of writing also considers the approach of the Syrian author Lubna Abou Kheir. Arriving in Switzerland as an adult, she granted herself permission to begin writing in German shortly afterwards, at a stage when society was yet to accord her that same consent.
This piece also reflects on the significance of heritage languages, fragmented language, and literary language. What, the author asks, does it mean to have a language of your own? What do we understand by personal and individual narrative? This piece also addresses the role of encounters, mentoring and community in literature in sparking discussion of these questions.