Migration Across Generations
University of Aberdeen Linklater Rooms, Elphinstone Hall., Aberdeen, AB24 3DR
Thursday 8th October 2026
How does migrating to another country impact our sense of self, language and culture? Does when, what age and where from drastically alter our experience compared with others? When does a place finally become home? Award-winning Sudanese novelist Leila Aboulela, Malawian poet and activist Loraine Masiya Mponela, and Shailini Vinod – who holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Aberdeen, originally from Kerala, India – share their work and reflect with Professor Nadia Kiwan. This event is supported by the University of Aberdeen’s Interdisciplinary Institute.
Dr Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction), she is the author of numerous novels, including River Spirit, Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, which was Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her collection of short stories Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila’s work has been translated into fifteen languages, and her plays The Insider, The Mystic Life and others were broadcast on BBC Radio. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. She recently completed her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen.
Loraine Masiya Mponela was born and raised in Malawi and currently lives in England. A writer of poetry, comedy and articles, her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, and magazines, as well as her collections I Was Not Born a Sad Poet, Now I Sing and My Accent. She is a Migrants’ Rights campaigner and community organiser.
Dr Shailini Vinod is a writer-researcher with a PhD in Creative Writing (University of Aberdeen). Her work focuses on the notions of home, belonging, power and identity. With a UKRI/AHRC studentship awarded to her interdisciplinary study, she combined short fiction with sociological theory and research to foster a better understanding of a migrant community of British South Asian NHS professionals from Kerala. As a Cultural Heritage Project Lead, she is directing a documentary film, and has recently curated an exhibition featuring the Aberdeen Hindu Temple/Community via Museums Galleries Scotland. Her column entitled Nostalgia featured her writings in an expat magazine, Aksharam. She has been a UK Civil Servant, tutor at the School of Social Sciences, University of Aberdeen, and has worked for television networks like Zee and B4U.
Find the full programme, including accessibility information, at www.waywordfestival.com
Dr Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction), she is the author of numerous novels, including River Spirit, Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, which was Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her collection of short stories Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila’s work has been translated into fifteen languages, and her plays The Insider, The Mystic Life and others were broadcast on BBC Radio. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. She recently completed her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen.
Loraine Masiya Mponela was born and raised in Malawi and currently lives in England. A writer of poetry, comedy and articles, her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, and magazines, as well as her collections I Was Not Born a Sad Poet, Now I Sing and My Accent. She is a Migrants’ Rights campaigner and community organiser.
Dr Shailini Vinod is a writer-researcher with a PhD in Creative Writing (University of Aberdeen). Her work focuses on the notions of home, belonging, power and identity. With a UKRI/AHRC studentship awarded to her interdisciplinary study, she combined short fiction with sociological theory and research to foster a better understanding of a migrant community of British South Asian NHS professionals from Kerala. As a Cultural Heritage Project Lead, she is directing a documentary film, and has recently curated an exhibition featuring the Aberdeen Hindu Temple/Community via Museums Galleries Scotland. Her column entitled Nostalgia featured her writings in an expat magazine, Aksharam. She has been a UK Civil Servant, tutor at the School of Social Sciences, University of Aberdeen, and has worked for television networks like Zee and B4U.
Find the full programme, including accessibility information, at www.waywordfestival.com
