Safiya 🌙
@safiyacherfi.bsky.social
Writes stories: short, literary, historical, sometimes speculative | Stories found in Gutter Magazine, The Selkie & more | Working on a collection | Love languages & history | Editor of Overtly Lit
🕊️🇵🇸🏴
https://linktr.ee/safiyacherfi
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https://linktr.ee/safiyacherfi
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Safiya 🌙
@safiyacherfi.bsky.social
· May 31
🌸💀✨️ Issue 7 is out now! ✨️💀🌸
12 stories ready to break your heart, make you wince, fill you with bittersweet longing, or just make you kind of uneasy. You will feel things.
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-seven-...
#SFF #Horror #SpecFic #Fantasy #ScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction #FlashFiction
12 stories ready to break your heart, make you wince, fill you with bittersweet longing, or just make you kind of uneasy. You will feel things.
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-seven-...
#SFF #Horror #SpecFic #Fantasy #ScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction #FlashFiction
Delighted to have a story in this beautiful issue! 🌊
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
‘Look at us with mercy’: displaced Palestinians dread onset of harsh winter
‘Look at us with mercy’: displaced Palestinians dread onset of harsh winter
People in tent cities on shore of southern Gaza fear disease, cold and hunger as shortages continue
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:37 AM
‘Look at us with mercy’: displaced Palestinians dread onset of harsh winter
Honoured to have my story "Deliver" nominated! I love @innerworlds.bsky.social and all the work they publish, go and give the other stories a read 💫📖
🥁 It's Pushcart time! 🥁
Almost impossible to choose again, but here are our 2025 nominees:
Lungs by Busayo Akinmoju
Come F*** Yourself by Sylvie Althoff
Grand Mal by Mary Buchanan
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Strangler Fig by Katharine Tyndall
Almost impossible to choose again, but here are our 2025 nominees:
Lungs by Busayo Akinmoju
Come F*** Yourself by Sylvie Althoff
Grand Mal by Mary Buchanan
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Strangler Fig by Katharine Tyndall
November 19, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Honoured to have my story "Deliver" nominated! I love @innerworlds.bsky.social and all the work they publish, go and give the other stories a read 💫📖
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Read our Pushcart nominated stories!
Deliver by @safiyacherfi.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/deliver-safi...
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by @esichr.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/they-promise...
Strangler Fig by @katharinetyndall.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/strangler-fi... 2/2
Deliver by @safiyacherfi.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/deliver-safi...
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by @esichr.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/they-promise...
Strangler Fig by @katharinetyndall.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/strangler-fi... 2/2
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Your mentor once described a Bridge as being close to sacred. Inhale against the pull of time, they said. Let past, present, and future flood your molecules.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
November 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Read our Pushcart nominated stories!
Deliver by @safiyacherfi.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/deliver-safi...
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by @esichr.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/they-promise...
Strangler Fig by @katharinetyndall.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/strangler-fi... 2/2
Deliver by @safiyacherfi.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/deliver-safi...
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by @esichr.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/they-promise...
Strangler Fig by @katharinetyndall.bsky.social inner-worlds.ghost.io/strangler-fi... 2/2
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
🥁 It's Pushcart time! 🥁
Almost impossible to choose again, but here are our 2025 nominees:
Lungs by Busayo Akinmoju
Come F*** Yourself by Sylvie Althoff
Grand Mal by Mary Buchanan
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Strangler Fig by Katharine Tyndall
Almost impossible to choose again, but here are our 2025 nominees:
Lungs by Busayo Akinmoju
Come F*** Yourself by Sylvie Althoff
Grand Mal by Mary Buchanan
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Strangler Fig by Katharine Tyndall
November 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
🥁 It's Pushcart time! 🥁
Almost impossible to choose again, but here are our 2025 nominees:
Lungs by Busayo Akinmoju
Come F*** Yourself by Sylvie Althoff
Grand Mal by Mary Buchanan
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Strangler Fig by Katharine Tyndall
Almost impossible to choose again, but here are our 2025 nominees:
Lungs by Busayo Akinmoju
Come F*** Yourself by Sylvie Althoff
Grand Mal by Mary Buchanan
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
They Promised This Would Be Beautiful by Elena Sichrovsky
Strangler Fig by Katharine Tyndall
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Despite a ceasefire mandating the passage of humanitarian aid, only a fraction of the aid needed has been let into Gaza.
UNRWA slams Israel for crippling Gaza efforts, aid woefully short of needs
Despite a ceasefire mandating the passage of humanitarian aid, only a fraction of the aid needed has been let into Gaza.
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Despite a ceasefire mandating the passage of humanitarian aid, only a fraction of the aid needed has been let into Gaza.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
At least 245 Palestinians killed in Gaza since start of ceasefire, according to enclave's Health Ministry.
Israel attacks Gaza’s south, north during ‘repeatedly violated’ truce
At least 245 Palestinians killed in Gaza since start of ceasefire, according to enclave's Health Ministry.
bit.ly
November 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
At least 245 Palestinians killed in Gaza since start of ceasefire, according to enclave's Health Ministry.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Today's quick update [Nov 12]:
- RSF drone strike attempts reported on Merowe Airport and Merowe Dam; repelled by SAF anti-aircraft artillery.
- RSF forces continue to surround and infiltrate the city of Babanusa, West Kordofan.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
- RSF drone strike attempts reported on Merowe Airport and Merowe Dam; repelled by SAF anti-aircraft artillery.
- RSF forces continue to surround and infiltrate the city of Babanusa, West Kordofan.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
November 13, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Today's quick update [Nov 12]:
- RSF drone strike attempts reported on Merowe Airport and Merowe Dam; repelled by SAF anti-aircraft artillery.
- RSF forces continue to surround and infiltrate the city of Babanusa, West Kordofan.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
- RSF drone strike attempts reported on Merowe Airport and Merowe Dam; repelled by SAF anti-aircraft artillery.
- RSF forces continue to surround and infiltrate the city of Babanusa, West Kordofan.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
In Gaza, we all want this ceasefire to hold, to save what remains of our home. Still, it does not take a genius to see that the ceasefire plan is nothing but a grotesque charade. #eiGazaDispatches
No end to genocide
The ceasefire agreement simply means that Israel is able to do whatever it wants.
electronicintifada.net
November 6, 2025 at 7:47 AM
In Gaza, we all want this ceasefire to hold, to save what remains of our home. Still, it does not take a genius to see that the ceasefire plan is nothing but a grotesque charade. #eiGazaDispatches
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
I read Deliver by Safiya Cherfi in @innerworlds.bsky.social in which a reporter goes to a remote Scottish island to learn about the sea-child. nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2025/11/i-re...
I Read Stories: Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi in Inner Worlds On a remote Scottish island a reporter follows a strange story. About a mermaid, which he re...
nightofthehats.blogspot.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:52 AM
I read Deliver by Safiya Cherfi in @innerworlds.bsky.social in which a reporter goes to a remote Scottish island to learn about the sea-child. nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2025/11/i-re...
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
A child in Gaza, selling drinks to help his family, is invited to play with the other children after he was watching them play from afar.
October 20, 2025 at 8:41 PM
A child in Gaza, selling drinks to help his family, is invited to play with the other children after he was watching them play from afar.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
PALESTINE - 1 at Edinburgh's Radical Book Fair 📚🕊️
🎟️ lighthousebookshop.com/events/pales...
Basma Ghalayini & Mazen Maarouf discuss the stories of Palestinian villages in the year before the Nakba, & the place of history in constantly 'unprecedented' times.
🗓️ 9 Nov (4-5pm)
📍 Assembly Roxy
🎟️ lighthousebookshop.com/events/pales...
Basma Ghalayini & Mazen Maarouf discuss the stories of Palestinian villages in the year before the Nakba, & the place of history in constantly 'unprecedented' times.
🗓️ 9 Nov (4-5pm)
📍 Assembly Roxy
October 21, 2025 at 11:30 AM
PALESTINE - 1 at Edinburgh's Radical Book Fair 📚🕊️
🎟️ lighthousebookshop.com/events/pales...
Basma Ghalayini & Mazen Maarouf discuss the stories of Palestinian villages in the year before the Nakba, & the place of history in constantly 'unprecedented' times.
🗓️ 9 Nov (4-5pm)
📍 Assembly Roxy
🎟️ lighthousebookshop.com/events/pales...
Basma Ghalayini & Mazen Maarouf discuss the stories of Palestinian villages in the year before the Nakba, & the place of history in constantly 'unprecedented' times.
🗓️ 9 Nov (4-5pm)
📍 Assembly Roxy
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Saleh was 27 years old with his life ahead of him. He loved his people, he loved his religion, he loved his land. He covered the genocide for two years as the powers of the world tried to silence his voice. His voice will live on, even after the occupation ends. Glory to the martyrs.
October 12, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Saleh was 27 years old with his life ahead of him. He loved his people, he loved his religion, he loved his land. He covered the genocide for two years as the powers of the world tried to silence his voice. His voice will live on, even after the occupation ends. Glory to the martyrs.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
The beloved Saleh Al-Jafarawi has been murdered. We are absolutely devastated. For 2 years he reported on the genocide of his people, just for him to be murdered during the ‘ceasefire’
October 12, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The beloved Saleh Al-Jafarawi has been murdered. We are absolutely devastated. For 2 years he reported on the genocide of his people, just for him to be murdered during the ‘ceasefire’
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
DEADLINE EXTENDED
If you’re a poet of Arab heritage, writing in English anywhere in the world, with a poetry manuscript - you now have until 15 October to enter the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize!
> $2000
> US publication with Noemi Press
> UK publication with Out-Spoken Press
noemipress.submittable.com
If you’re a poet of Arab heritage, writing in English anywhere in the world, with a poetry manuscript - you now have until 15 October to enter the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize!
> $2000
> US publication with Noemi Press
> UK publication with Out-Spoken Press
noemipress.submittable.com
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
DEADLINE EXTENDED
If you’re a poet of Arab heritage, writing in English anywhere in the world, with a poetry manuscript - you now have until 15 October to enter the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize!
> $2000
> US publication with Noemi Press
> UK publication with Out-Spoken Press
noemipress.submittable.com
If you’re a poet of Arab heritage, writing in English anywhere in the world, with a poetry manuscript - you now have until 15 October to enter the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize!
> $2000
> US publication with Noemi Press
> UK publication with Out-Spoken Press
noemipress.submittable.com
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla said they heard explosions and saw drone attacks late on Tuesday.
Gaza aid flotilla hit by drone attacks and explosions, activists say
Activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla said they heard explosions and saw drone attacks late on Tuesday.
bit.ly
September 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla said they heard explosions and saw drone attacks late on Tuesday.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
In a world with so little hope and so little moral constancy these are images of true joy.
Below are photos of Alaa Abdel Fattah free and at home with his sister, Sanaa, and mother, Laila.
It’s wonderful to see his beautiful smile again!
(Photos via his sister, Mona, on X)
#FreeAlaa
It’s wonderful to see his beautiful smile again!
(Photos via his sister, Mona, on X)
#FreeAlaa
September 23, 2025 at 8:05 AM
In a world with so little hope and so little moral constancy these are images of true joy.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
A UN commission of inquiry has confirmed what was already clear: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The government’s position was already morally indefensible. It is now politically untenable.
Keir Starmer and his Labour ministers must be held criminally accountable.
The government’s position was already morally indefensible. It is now politically untenable.
Keir Starmer and his Labour ministers must be held criminally accountable.
September 16, 2025 at 10:54 AM
A UN commission of inquiry has confirmed what was already clear: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The government’s position was already morally indefensible. It is now politically untenable.
Keir Starmer and his Labour ministers must be held criminally accountable.
The government’s position was already morally indefensible. It is now politically untenable.
Keir Starmer and his Labour ministers must be held criminally accountable.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
‘A Life That Doesn’t Know How to Live’: New Poetry by Fatena Abu Mostafa
In this poem, by Fatena Mostafa, the narrator endures, "not out of strength, / but because even collapse has grown dull."
In this poem, by Fatena Mostafa, the narrator endures, "not out of strength, / but because even collapse has grown dull."
‘A Life That Doesn’t Know How to Live’: New Poetry by Fatena Abu Mostafa
In this poem, by Fatena Mostafa, the narrator endures, "not out of strength, / but because even collapse has grown dull."
arablit.org
September 16, 2025 at 5:26 AM
‘A Life That Doesn’t Know How to Live’: New Poetry by Fatena Abu Mostafa
In this poem, by Fatena Mostafa, the narrator endures, "not out of strength, / but because even collapse has grown dull."
In this poem, by Fatena Mostafa, the narrator endures, "not out of strength, / but because even collapse has grown dull."
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Another major independent report led by experts confirms that Israel is perpetrating genocide. The Israeli government has denounced its authors as "Hamas proxies". The litany of crimes continues with impunity. Full sanctions and boycott are long overdue. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says
The panel finds that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out against Palestinians during the war.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 16, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Another major independent report led by experts confirms that Israel is perpetrating genocide. The Israeli government has denounced its authors as "Hamas proxies". The litany of crimes continues with impunity. Full sanctions and boycott are long overdue. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
I squealed when I saw this and had to take a seat on the stairs to read it. My novella has a review in Strange Horizons!!
There are Reasons for This by Nini Berndt
reviewed by E. C. Barrett
Orphan Planet by Madeehah Reza
reviewed by Nileena Sunil
Memories From The Jungle by Tristan Garcia, trans. by Christopher Beach
reviewed by Will Emmons
Link to latest issue in bio!
#sciencefiction #scifi #sff #bookreviews
reviewed by E. C. Barrett
Orphan Planet by Madeehah Reza
reviewed by Nileena Sunil
Memories From The Jungle by Tristan Garcia, trans. by Christopher Beach
reviewed by Will Emmons
Link to latest issue in bio!
#sciencefiction #scifi #sff #bookreviews
September 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I squealed when I saw this and had to take a seat on the stairs to read it. My novella has a review in Strange Horizons!!
Read this piece by Alaa Alqaisi, especially if you've read Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani.
'We Knocked Until Our Hands Broke' arablit.org/2025/05/23/w...
'We Knocked Until Our Hands Broke' arablit.org/2025/05/23/w...
We Knocked Until Our Hands Broke
Gaza-based Palestinian author Alaa Alqaisi asks herself the question posed more than half a century ago at the end of Ghassan Kanafani’s “Men in the Sun”: Why didn’t they knock on…
arablit.org
September 10, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Read this piece by Alaa Alqaisi, especially if you've read Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani.
'We Knocked Until Our Hands Broke' arablit.org/2025/05/23/w...
'We Knocked Until Our Hands Broke' arablit.org/2025/05/23/w...
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
I‘m sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Maram. Maram was a kindergarten teacher before this and her family had a farm with many greenhouses. The farm was destroyed and she lost her job. Maram is trying to help her large family including 5 siblings and a nephew, Jood who is only 2.
September 9, 2025 at 8:54 AM
I‘m sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Maram. Maram was a kindergarten teacher before this and her family had a farm with many greenhouses. The farm was destroyed and she lost her job. Maram is trying to help her large family including 5 siblings and a nephew, Jood who is only 2.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
The oldest surviving book owned by English speakers was a book made in North Africa.
In this article from our archive, Alison Hudson traces how these radical fragments reveal that immigrants and cultural exchange have always been fundamental to Britain.
In this article from our archive, Alison Hudson traces how these radical fragments reveal that immigrants and cultural exchange have always been fundamental to Britain.
Radical Object: A North African Book in the Early Medieval British Isles
The oldest surviving book owned by English speakers was a book made in North Africa. Alison Hudson traces how these radical fragments reveal that immigrants and cultural exchange have always been fundamental to British economies, culture,…
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
September 9, 2025 at 7:15 AM
The oldest surviving book owned by English speakers was a book made in North Africa.
In this article from our archive, Alison Hudson traces how these radical fragments reveal that immigrants and cultural exchange have always been fundamental to Britain.
In this article from our archive, Alison Hudson traces how these radical fragments reveal that immigrants and cultural exchange have always been fundamental to Britain.
Reposted by Safiya 🌙
Another one in the @innerworlds.bsky.social gang! Read this beautifully melancholic tale by Safiya with a hot cup of tea 🌊
P.s. I had a short story published a few months ago if you want to have a read ☺️🫶🏻
inner-worlds.ghost.io/deliver-safi...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/deliver-safi...
Deliver by Safiya Cherfi
“The MacRae sisters tell me you were the first one to spot the creature?” He sounded like he’d jumped straight out of the BBC Radio the boys had sent their father from Edinburgh.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
August 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Another one in the @innerworlds.bsky.social gang! Read this beautifully melancholic tale by Safiya with a hot cup of tea 🌊