No God but Us with Bobuq Sayed

In this seductive, provocative debut, two Afghan men—cast out of their respective countries of birth by circumstances beyond their control—collide in Istanbul, a city that will test their willingness to sacrifice everything for the ones they love.

Bobuq Sayed is a writer, editor and artist. Born in Perth to Afghan refugee parents, they have lived in Melbourne, the Virginian suburbs of Washington DC, Istanbul, Miami, Berlin and, most recently, New York City. They are a graduate of the University of Miami MFA program in Fiction, where they were a James A. Michener Fellow and won the Irene Pines Award. They received a 2022-23 Steinbeck Fellowship from the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San José State University. Bobuq's short stories have appeared in Gulf Coast, The Drift and Guernica. Their chapbook, A Brief History of Australian Terror, was published by Common Room Editions in 2024, and their debut novel, No God but Us, will publish in 2026.

Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and the author of four award-winning novels: The Tribe (Giramondo, 2014), The Lebs (Hachette, 2018), The Other Half of You (Hachette, 2021) and Bugger (Hachette, 2026). He is also the editor of several critically acclaimed anthologies, including After Australia (Affirm Press, 2020). Mohammed received his Doctorate of Creative Arts from Western Sydney University in 2017.

Drinks and nibblies provided.