Parham Ghalamdar took part in English PEN’s five-day residency for writers experiencing displacement to the UK, hosted by The Mosaic Rooms in London. The programme created time for rest and independent writing, followed by editorial development with English PEN. The residency was supported by the David McClure Trust Fund.
From the residency came “High Probability, a Cowardly Phrase,” a short nonfiction essay published in PEN Transmissions on 1 October 2026. Written amid the distance between England and Iran during wartime, the piece follows the anxious rhythm of checking updates, rumours and messages from home. It considers how uncertainty travels through digital communication, how distant war presses on ordinary life, and the uneasy feeling of waiting at a remove.
Drawings and diagrams made during the residency accompany the essay. They map the pressure of news, memory and helplessness, returning to the phrase “ORDINARY LIFE.”
Residency
English PEN five-day residency for writers experiencing displacement to the UK
Host: The Mosaic Rooms, London
Support: David McClure Trust Fund
Publication
“High Probability, a Cowardly Phrase”
PEN Transmissions, 1 October 2026
Read the essay:
https://www.englishpen.org/pen-transmissions/high-probability-a-cowardly-phrase/
