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GUEST POST: IWD 2026 – Alycia Pirmohamed on the underfunded, unequal literary landscape

Illustration by Kumi McKenna International Women’s Day 2026 falls in the lead up to the Scottish Parliament elections. With this in mind, we have asked women working in the arts and culture sectors to reflect on our 2026 Manifesto: Transforming Culture for a Fairer Future. In her blog poet, writer and co-founder of Scottish BPOC Writers Network Alycia Pirmohamed reflects on funding, the resulting labour around it, and the experience of marginalised communities facing systemic barriers in the sector. 

Last September, I sat in an immigration office in Edinburgh where I was going through the motions of applying for permanent residency. This was just two days after anti-immigration protests attended by over 100,000 people swept the nation.