Abu Leila is a writer and community organiser from London. They were one of the winners of the 2019 Spread the Word London Writers Awards, and have written on migration, feminism and colonialism for VICE, Red Pepper, The Vision and AZ-magazine. They have written theatre shows preserving oral family histories of war for the Camden People’s Theatre and the North Wall. They were commissioned by Poet in the City and their poetry was published in Bad Betty Press’ Field Notes on Survival and the other side of hope. They are currently writing their first novel, an extract from which won the Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award 2022.