Voices In Exile

28/05/2026

🤩 Week 6 of Simple Acts in the countdown to Refugee Week 2026 is here - and this week’s theme is: Read a book 📚

Stories can open our eyes to different experiences, challenge stereotypes, and help us better understand the journeys of refugees and migrants. This week, we’re sharing five fiction books we love that explore themes of displacement, resilience, belonging and hope.🧡

1️⃣ The Beekeeper of Aleppo – Christy Lefteri
A moving story of love, loss and survival following a Syrian couple forced to flee war and rebuild their lives in the UK.

2️⃣ Exit West – Mohsin Hamid
A beautifully written novel blending magical realism with the realities of displacement, borders, love, and belonging.

3️⃣ The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
An emotional story of friendship, guilt and redemption set against the backdrop of conflict and migration from Afghanistan.

4️⃣ Small Island – Andrea Levy
A novel exploring migration, identity and race in post-war Britain through the lives of Jamaican migrants arriving in Britain.

5️⃣ The Ungrateful Refugee – Dina Nayeri
Part memoir, part storytelling, this powerful book challenges stereotypes about refugees and explores what it really means to seek safety and belonging (this is why this week's Simple Act is so important!).

📖 Have you read any of these books? Comment with any other suggestions, we'd love to read them! 👇️

27/05/2026

With Refugee Week fast approaching in mid-June, this week's Simple Act is Read a Book 📚️

Books invite us to see through new eyes, question assumptions and develop empathy that comes from truly knowing another person’s story. Reading and listening to stories of those forced to seek safety helps us to imagine lives beyond our own, understand decisions we might never face, and find shared humanity where we least expect it.

Ways to act simply:

1.) Read or listen to a book
2.) Host a book club
3.) Organise a book exchange
4.) Listen to a podcast, or produce your own

Simple Acts are everyday actions we can all do to stand with refugees and make new connections in our communities.

'Read a Book' is one of nine Simple Acts you can do for Refugee Week (15-21 June).

22/05/2026

🚨 🎬️ SAMA Film Festival comes to Brighton! 🤩

From June 15 - June 19 (aligned with Refugee Week), venues across Brighton and Lewes will be home to a new offshoot of the long-running Sama International Festival which takes place in Stockholm, Sweden every year. 🇸🇪

This festival provides a platform for cinema made under the conditions of political violence, censorship, and exile. It will feature filmmakers from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran - and include director Q&As, music, some poetry, and a party on the last night! 🎉

🍿 Here's the running schedule:

June 15th: Sima's Song @ The Depot (Lewes) - 5.30pm
June 16th: Short films @ Pink Moon - 7pm
June 17th: Champions of the Golden Valley @ The Rose Hill - 7pm
June 18th: My Childhood, My Country @ Dukes at Komedia - 7pm
June 19th: Bauryna Salu @ Fabrica - 6pm

🔗 Check out their website for all details: https://shorturl.at/1yHBm 🧡

'Films defined not just by geography, but by a shared artistic sensibility shaped by restriction and movement, and celebrating persistence of voice.'🌍️

20/05/2026

19/05/2026

This week's Simple Act ahead of Refugee Week is to Share Food & Stories🧡

Again with our friends at Living Vital we had a brilliant day out for this Simple Act!👨‍🍳👩‍🍳☘️

18/05/2026

😅VOICES CALL OUT‼️

Anyone able to donate a wardrobe or chest of drawers? Send us a message!🧡

18/05/2026

With just four weeks to go until Refugee Week, our fifth Simple Act is Share Food & Stories 🍕

This Simple Act is all about the power of food to bring people together. When we cook, share recipes, or sit down to eat side by side, we are participating in an act that transcends language, culture and circumstance.

When we gather around a table to break bread together, care and nourishment become a thread that weave us together, dissolving boundaries and building community.

Ways to act simply:

1.) Cook, bake, gather, share and exchange your own recipes and meals
2.) Try new foods from a culture you are less familiar with
3.) Host or join a Refugee Week cooking event or class

'Share Food & Stories' is one of nine Simple Acts you can do for Refugee Week (15-21 June).

16/05/2026

The Weekend of Hope is nearly here! And community groups up and down the country have big plans for spreading hope. ☀️

Comment below 👇 to say what makes you hopeful - because the more hope we see, the more hopeful we'll all be.