Nabeela Ahmed

Writer, poet, storyteller, educator, photographer, gardener, all the earthly roles and a good soul!

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

You can listen to my conversation with Michael Rosen for Word of Mouth on Radio 4 on Sunday at 8 pm.

https://t.co/CKNKp1i3Pj

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

@HurleyJose48513 @MichaelRosenYes Anniversaries can be like bubbles filled with intense memories that hold us in them each year. Sending you love and hugs today.

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

One of my most popular articles ever included a long extract from a powerful closing speech by barrister Rajiv Menon during a Palestine Action trial in January. In the end, the jury refused to convict the six defendants.

Menon is now on trial for that closing speech – for reminding the jury that they had a 350-year-old right in law to follow their conscience in reaching a verdict, even if it meant defying a direction from the judge to convict.

Paradoxically, Menon joked in his speech that, because of that earlier legal principle, the judge, unlike his counterpart in 1670, could not lock them, the jurors, up were they to choose to follow their consciences.

Instead, the judge is seeking to lock up the barrister. Does 2026 qualify as an improvement on 1670?

It is believed that this is the first time a barrister has been tried for comments made to a jury in his closing speech. That should serve as a potent reminder of just us how authoritarian the current political moment is, and of how quickly long-established legal rights are being dismantled to protect British collusion in genocide.

Read my article – and the part of the speech for which Menon is being tried – here: https://t.co/RyDHG3Iz81

[The Writer's Workout @WritersWorkout]

@dlitreview Uncertain Stories (on the list) is not free. It's a £5 fee.

[Waterstones Bradford Wool Exchange @WaterstonesBD1]

Now both nominees! Marcia Hutchinson, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in Fiction and Peter Kalu, nominated for the Jhalak Prize - #jhalakprize #womensprizeforfiction #Bradford #waterstones @Marciathewriter @peterkalu https://t.co/etGUCT8MhY

[SFSU Creative Writing ✨ @sfsucw]

Submit your work to @PoetryFound! They are currently accepting your best pieces, and all work will be compensated!

⭐️ Submitting #poetry is free. Please send only one submission at a time per category!

📎 To submit, follow here: https://t.co/gkHIIfXs10

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

Those Shakespeare speeches you can't quite remember...you want to share them with your offspring. Here they are: out in paperback yesterday!

[Twin Bird Review @TwinBirdReview]

Friends, we’re still reading for our summer issue! We’re especially interested in artwork and CNF - we’d love to see what you’ve got!😎

[Broken Sleep Books @brokensleep]

We are open for full length poetry collection submissions until 31st May.

A very small percentage of people who submit to Broken Sleep Books actually buy a book from us. If every submitter bought just 1 title, it would make a huge difference.

Guidelines: https://t.co/pLyCajN9yj

[Wasafiri @WasafiriMag]

🌟We are now open for creative submissions! 🌟

Send us your best fiction or nonfiction — we welcome innovative creative writing that in form, focus, or theme seeks to expand the boundaries of global literary culture.

DEADLINE: Midnight BST, 1 May 2026

https://t.co/IsQeLQJWba

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

Come and listen to the writing of ten local published writers and poets!
Writers confirmed:
Matt Hill
Sue Butler
Matt Nicholson
Ranjit Arora
Kristina Diprose
Gill Connors
Lauren Fleming
Zainab Abdeslem
Jane Kite
Eniola Omorinkoba
https://t.co/NIj2jioyXH

[Raza Ahmad Rumi @Razarumi]

For a change, this was a lovely AI generated video to watch #23rdMarch ❤️❤️ #PakistanDay
(Great job @ReelWind_ — just found you on X)

[Aesthetica Magazine @AestheticaMag]

Submit to the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2026

We are looking for the best new writing talent! Our £5,000 international literary prize is open to poetry and short fiction entries on any theme, celebrating innovation.

Deadline 31 August: https://t.co/1pxAujoDqm

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

Eid Mubarak, whichever day it falls for you. May our intentions and actions during Ramzaan leave us changed for the better, and may this Eid bring some ease and joy to every heart.

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

We going online. Exciting!

[Yusuf / Cat Stevens @YusufCatStevens]

This Christmas spare a thought for the brave voices of conscience held in UK jails, refusing food for the cause of justice, against the Genocide the government of Britain is involved in

#Peace #PeacefulProtest #Gaza

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year! May humanity's light shine brighter next year and may it include everything in our universe. May darkness be pushed back again.

[Matthew Stewart @roguestrands]

There's no escaping the fact that most non-funded, print-based poetry journals in the U.K. are in big trouble right now...

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

Changing the world begins by changing what is within our control in our local communities. Come and be inspired by your local talented writers and poets in your library and support a local festival. Buy their books for Christmas & support your economy.

https://t.co/0bOXMhjtTT

[Nabeela Ahmed @n_ehmed]

Before I was a poet, I was a storyteller. Before I wrote them down, I shared them orally, so it was fabulous to write a monologue for @writersmosaic
with @royallitfund under the superb guidance of @IshyDin. Here @johnsiddique & Ishy discuss the project.
https://t.co/YnJ7GvpC39

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

Suicide.

I'm choosing to be deliberately blunt and provocative in this post because it's necessary. Government, charities, football clubs are all pushing water up a hill in highlighting what is undoubtedly a major health crisis.

You take a rope.
You put it up in a garage or a tree nearby or far away.
You're thinking about every loved one you'll leave behind as you put that rope around your neck.
Then you drop.

Some are decapitated.
Some aren't.
All are found by someone who has a lifetime of trauma that will never leave them.
A son.
A daughter.
A brother.
A sister.
A mother.
A father.

I know 2 men who hung themselves.

One was found by his Mom.
One was found by his brother.
Neither have recovered fully. 20 and 30 years on.

A life sentence for people who were already worrying, terrified their loved one may do something.

So just visualise the above and ask, "is there another way"?

A segway for a moment.

I do a few Q&A's every year. Tales of yesterday with a 99% male audience of my age group.

After the stories and fun, my last question back to the audience is..

"Hands up if you struggle with a mental health issue".

Nobody ever puts a hand up. Despite 1 in every 3 of 500 attendees statistically struggling.

"Ah, nobody, that's fucking brilliant! Well I do! ". I then graphically tell people, stunned into silence about how a rope around my neck in the middle of nowhere jolted me to go home and cry like a baby to my Mom.

After the Q&A has finished, something always happens. I'll be chatting to a few guys, saying bye and one by one, men will come over and whisper " I struggle".

Or my mailbox the next day will have 30 emails from guys, their partners or kids saying " Dad/Uncle /Brother was there last night and what you said hit them hard".

And that's how some people realise that it's time to speak to a pal or family member or even rant to me in an email. It works, I often get a follow up email a year or 6 later saying that they took responsibility for their suicidal feelings and are now flying.

Humans are programmed to want to live, to have families and to keep the species growing and thriving. So for a human to want to short circuit that desire isn't normal, and it should never be spoken of as normal. It's the ultimate red flag.

If you suspect your mate, Dad, Brother, Uncle is struggling mentally, they deserve your intervention.

They deserve a " are you OK, please tell me what's up".

They deserve an opportunity to get past wanting to hang a rope over a tree or in a garage and slowly struggle until they die and you find them.

If you've been there and trust me I have plenty, then you'll know that text out of the blue, or a footie mate or one of your kids asking jow you are can open the curtains to some sunshine.

Because when suicide is your only answer, the room is already dark, and you can't see a way out.

So please, fucking pretty please, ask that husband, Dad, Uncle, Cousin, footie pal TODAY how they are.

You may be shocked what comes back but extremely glad that you asked.

For those who struggle, you're not alone.