What does it mean when you have to leave your country of origin to start a new life in another place? Writers Abdelkader Benali and Rešoketšwe Manenzhe told stories about migration and displacement, based on their latest books. Çiler Ilhan moderated the conversation.

In her debut novel Scatterlings (published in the Netherlands as Zwervelingen), Manenzhe wrote about the disintegration and displacement of a biracial family as a result of the racist 1927 Ontuchtwet, which criminalised biracial relationships.

Stories of migration also take centre stage in De opdracht van de Moor (The Assignment of the Moor), Abdelkader Benali's new novel published in January 2025: stories of travellers, refugees and fortune-seekers that form the basis of an ambitious project: moving flood-threatened Venice to a safe desert in the Middle East.

Rešoketšwe Manenzhe is a poet, short story writer and novelist. Her short stories and poems have appeared in the Kalahari Review, Fireside Fiction, Praxis Magazine, Lolwe, FIYAH, and the 2017 Sol Plaatjie European Union Anthology, among others. She holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her debut, the historical novel Scatterlings (2020) is set in 1927, when South Africa passes the Immorality Act, prohibiting sexual intercourse between white and black people. Those who break the draconian new law face imprisonment.

Abdelkader Benali is an award-winning writer, poet, playwright and curator. His 1996 debut, Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding By the Sea), was an immediate success. His second novel, De langverwachte (The Long-awaited) won him the prestigious 2003 Libris Literature Award. Benali's subjects vary, but sports and the migrant who never really feels at home are recurring themes. He has written novels about his great passion of running, about his travels, and about migrants' cultural identity. His new novel De opdracht van de Moor (The Moor's mission) is published in January 2025.

Çiler Ilhan writes novels, essays, reviews and translations for various newspapers and magazines. In 2006 she debuted with the short-story collection Ruya Tacirleri Odası (Chamber of Dream Merchants). Surgun (Exile, 2010) won the EU Literature Prize and was published in 24 countries. In 2021 she published Nişan Evi (Engagement), a novella about lives lost under the weight of power factors in eastern Turkey.

Scatterlings was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Ilonka Reintjens.