Folding a River and Let us Through War Away
Tawona Sitholé and Alison Phipps
The publication of Folding a River (Wild Goose Publications, 2026) by Tawona Sitholé and Alison Phipps marked a significant moment in contemporary poetic practice, not simply as a literary achievement, but as a catalyst for transnational creative solidarity. Rooted in years of intercultural collaboration and peace-building work, the collection explores themes of migration, displacement, memory and resilience, offering what has been described as a “shared language of hope” in a fractured world. Its impact extended far beyond the page, becoming a generative force that enabled new poetic voices—especially those writing under conditions of war—to emerge and be heard.
A key outcome of this impact was the publication of Let’s Throw Away War: Voices from Gaza (Wild Goose Publications, May 2026), co-edited by Alison Phipps and Nazmi al‑Masri. This companion volume brought together poems written by students in Gaza, many of whom were participating in online poetry workshops and readings inspired in part by the ethos and reach of Folding a River. These poems were created in extraordinarily difficult circumstances—often “typed on phones with failing batteries” and composed amid destruction—yet they testify to the persistence of imagination and the necessity of artistic expression even in extremis. The transition from Folding a River to Let’s Throw Away War illustrates how poetry can move from reflective intercultural dialogue to urgent, collective witnessing.
The broader public impact of this work was amplified through major media coverage, most notably in The Guardian article published on 25 May 2026, “Written under collapsing ceilings, typed on phones: the poetry bringing Palestine to the world”. The article situates the student poets within the devastating context of the war in Gaza, noting that 95% of the Islamic University of Gaza’s buildings had been damaged or destroyed, and that teaching and creative collaboration now occur in brief online intervals powered by scarce electricity. Within this context, poetry emerges not as a luxury but as a “line of defence,” offering a language for collective grief and a means of documenting realities that “cameras cannot always reach.”
Crucially, Folding a River is presented in the article as a touchstone for these events, with a student poetry reading organised to celebrate its publication and to connect the Gaza participants with wider global audiences. Alison Phipps’ long-standing collaboration—spanning 17 years—with the Islamic University of Gaza is highlighted as a foundation for this exchange, demonstrating how sustained academic and artistic relationships can create infrastructures of care and communication even under siege. The poetic practice exemplified in Folding a River thus becomes not only thematic but operational: it models how to hold together grief, resistance, and relationality across borders.
Further extending this impact, the voices of the Gaza students reached a global audience through a feature on the BBC World Service, which attracted approximately 25 million listeners. This broadcast transformed the intimate, fragile conditions of the poems’ creation into an expansive act of international listening. The scale of this audience underscores the capacity of poetry—when connected to institutional networks, publishing platforms, and media channels—to influence public discourse and foster empathetic engagement across vast distances.
Taken together, these developments demonstrate that Folding a River functioned as more than a collection of poems: it became a catalyst for collaborative creation, a bridge between academic work and lived experience, and a mechanism for amplifying marginalised voices. The subsequent publication of Let’s Throw Away War, the Guardian’s global reporting, and the BBC World Service feature collectively show how poetry can intervene meaningfully in contexts of crisis, transforming individual expression into shared cultural and political presence.
References:
https://www.ionabooks.com/product/folding-a-river/
BBC World Service: Farah and Imad interviews- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w1730c5kpjm42sz
“Written under collapsing ceilings, typed on phones: the poetry bringing Palestine to the world”.
