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An extended reading / discussion event involving three writers whose writing draws upon the epic tradition, and who rework it for the contemporary context. Stephanie Sy Quia will read from Amnion, an exploration of migratory histories, colonialism and class, which enquires into how origins and family history shape us, and how in turn we arrange it into personal mythologies. Albanian writer Gëzim Hadjari (tr. Ian Seed) considers all of his work as one long epic poem; for StAnza he will read from Bitter Grass, and explore how the oral tradition and the epic can act as weapons of exiled resistance. Khaled Nurul Hakim will share excerpts from A Book of Naseeb, an incantatory novel and ‘degraded epic’ about a heroin dealer who dreams of building a hospital ‘to help da limmless in Peshawar and Kabul’, written in a blend of street argot and language inspired by the Qur’an.