We are back this year with another round of interviews via podcasts for you. And to kick start the year off, we have Raifeif Ismail, political candidate, medical student, woman of colour, activist, former child refugee from Sudan and also now a published author.

Her story will be launched in the Margaret River Press and Centre for Stories anthology: Ways of Being Here with other African Australian writers at the Perth Writers Festival tomorrow, 24th of February, in the Tropical Garden at the University of WA.

If writing and studying and working full time and being an activist wasn’t enough, Raifeif Ismail is also running as The Greens WA’s candidate for Mirrabooka in the WA election in early March. The mind boggles when trying to contemplate where she finds the time to do everything.

It’s no surprise then that we discuss the question of whether all art is political and where she gets her passion for writing from and how she balances it all.

Raifeif Ismail - Ways of Being Here anthology


The full interview runs to just over 20 minutes and is accessible via this link and via the player below.

As always, your prone to fits of laughter hostess/interviewer is Marisa Wikramanayake, and you can get in touch with her via her website or on Twitter.

You can find out more about Raifeif Ismail by following her on Twitter and you can order a copy of the Ways of Being Here anthology from here.

If there is a specific writer you want us to interview, let us know. Leave your suggestions in the comments.