‘Each of us has a song’
Burhan Sönmez, now the president of PEN International, was a rising human rights lawyer in Turkey. A brutal assault nearly killed him – and propelled him to a life in literature
by Kaya Genç
Alizeh Kohari
Life Stories Editor, Psyche
Alizeh Kohari is a writer, editor and reporter who divides her time between Pakistan and the United States. She most recently worked at Global Press, training reporters across the world, from Mexico to Mongolia. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, New York Review of Books, Wired and others.
Edited by Alizeh Kohari
Mosque and state
In post-Soviet Azerbaijan, religion was a hot new commodity. I bought into it, too
by Ilkin Huseynli
Living off a dying sea
I am the last in a long line of shark hunters. As the ocean fades, so too does our way of life
Julius Kaspar, as told to Bharath Thampi
The cage
In a heterosexual breakup, the script is clean: loss, anger, distance. Ours refused that narrative
by Margie Sarsfield
Painting myself back to life
I’d dealt with many illnesses. But when lupus left scars on my face, my suffering was suddenly visible
by Krystal Sital
A haunting in Brooklyn
At 25, I saw my grandfather’s ghost. At 52, I think of what it may mean to be a ghost
by Kathleen Donohoe
Thicker than blood
When polio left me unable to walk, my parents put me in a disability centre. There, I met Mommy
Sauda Bashir, as told to Kiprop Kimutai
