About Untold Narratives
Untold Narratives works together with writers marginalised by community or conflict, to develop and amplify their work.
In many parts of the world, local writers (fiction and non-fiction) don’t have access to the cultural infrastructures necessary to develop their writing and to find new platforms. Untold supports these writers to develop their work; share their stories with wider communities in their own languages and grow global audiences in translation.
We also connect and support emerging literary editors and translators, to contribute to the development of local cultural landscapes.
Established in 2020, Untold was set up in response to the needs of a group of Afghan women writers who had little or no opportunity to work with editors or translators, or to have their work published.
This initial group of twenty writers has been working with Untold since then and has led to the publication of, My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird, New Fiction by Afghan Women. Also, Rising After the Fall and coming in 2024, My Dear Kabul.
This group has now doubled in number and these Afghan women writers form the core of the Paranda network, our initiative for writers in Afghanistan and those in the diaspora.
In 2022, we partnered with BEE Books in Kolkata to replicate the editorial model used for writers in Afghanistan, which resulted in the anthology A Fistful of Moonlight, New Fiction from Assam. We’re hoping to do more in NE India, as well as collaborations with writers in Yemen, Iran and those writing in the indigenous languages of South America.
Untold delivers writer development projects that bring writers from one part of the world to readers in another.
“There are stories in this country that people elsewhere have no way of knowing.
This is why it's so important that our work is recognised beyond our borders.”
- Writer from Write Afghanistan.
Who we are
Lucy Hannah – Founder and Director
Lucy specialises in setting up and delivering creative initiatives with marginalised communities. She founded and led Commonwealth Writers which operates across 53 countries, particularly in areas with little or no creative industries. While at the BBC, she established BBC Writer’s Room which discovers, develops and champions new writing talent across the UK. She has worked with writers in areas of conflict and post-conflict, including: Afghanistan, Chechnya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Sudan and N.E. Nigeria. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College, London, and Director of the BOCAS LitFest in Trinidad.
Sarah Gardner – Chair
Sarah Gardner has 30 years’ experience as a leader in the culture sector, covering policymaking, networking, governance, public affairs, marketing, research and international project management. From 2001-2017, she was the founding Executive Director of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) and is now an advisor to cultural organisations.
Bill Hicks – Director
Group Financial Controller at DS Smith PLC. Bill has over 20 years experience in UK FTSE 100 public company finance functions leading on external and internal accounting for companies including Tate & Lyle and AstraZeneca.
Will Forrester – Director
Will Forrester is Translation and International Manager at English PEN. He project managed Untold’s Write Afghanistan project between 2020 and 2023, and has worked for Commonwealth Writers, in the visual arts in Malaysia, and as an independent expert for the EU Commission’s Creative Europe programme. He is an editor for Review 31, a Clore Emerging Leader 2022, and a judge for the 2024 US National Translation Award. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, London Magazine and elsewhere, and he edited the 2022 anthology All Walls Collapse: Stories of Separation.
Emma D’Costa – Administrator
Emma is the Administrator of Untold. Emma worked at the Commonwealth Foundation from 2011 to 2024, managing a range of cultural events and projects. Before that, she managed the exhibitions programme at the Commonwealth Institute, and, at Cultural Co-operation, she worked with artists from London’s national and faith communities, as well as curating the spoken word programme for the Music Village Festivals, and organising a major conference on diaspora literature in 2005.
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Untold is a Community Interest Company (company number 12654173). Prospero World (UK registered charity number 1163952) receives charitable donations in support of our work through its fiscal sponsorship programme, and receives tax efficient donations from UK donors on our behalf.