Fabula Hub: Saif ur Rehman Raja

This year’s featured author of Fabula Hub, a programme dedicated to young, up-and-coming literary voices, is the Italian-Pakistani writer Saif ur Rehman Raja. His moving autobiographical novel Hijra (2024) explores the complex transitions between cultures, gender identities and social prejudices, relating the story of a childhood spent in Rawalpindi and teenage years in Italy. Raja's work probes into the emotional core of an individual whose sexual orientation and cultural otherness make him a social outcast.

Hijra is an account of life before and after migration. "Before" is a traditional childhood in Pakistan, accompanied by shared family rituals and a mother’s tender affection; "after" is foreignness in Italy, where young Saif’s homosexuality makes him a stranger among both Italians and Pakistanis. Labelled hijra (half-human), he carries the weight of social expectations and exclusion, yet resolutely seeking his own autonomy. Weaving a painfully honest, poetic and confessional narrative, the novel asks profound questions about identity, exposing the social and personal wounds faced by marginalised groups in today’s world.

Saif ur Rehman Raja (1994) was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and moved to Italy with his family aged 11. He graduated in pedagogy and devoted himself to research on multiculturalism and critical race theory at the University of Siena. His literary and research areas mainly concern migration, social exclusion and marginalised identities. 

The event will be hosted by Špela Setničar, excerpts from Hijra will be interpreted by actor Nejc Cijan Garlatti.

The talk will be held in Italian, with simultaneous translation into Slovenian.

Saif ur Rehman Raja is the author in focus of the Fabula Hub, a programme involving young authors in a series of literary events, professional networking and residencies in Slovenia. During the festival, Raja will spend ten days in residence at the Kulturna soseska (Cultural Neighbourhood) Celje, engaging with the localliterary community and focusing on his future work.