SAND 29: Cocoon – Issue Launch & Readings

With 30 contributors based in 14 different countries, the poetry, prose, and art in SAND 29 cocoons itself into various liminal spaces: communities, memories, dreams, languages. But while some cocoons create resilient spaces for resistance and regeneration, others struggle to keep the threats of the outside world at bay...

SAND (est. 2009) is a submissions-based literary and art journal created by a volunteer team from Berlin's international community. Featuring work by writers, translators, and artists from around the world, SAND seeks out fresh and underrepresented perspectives.

Katarina Gotic Damiani is (mostly) a Bosnian (mostly) poet. She is the author of two poetry collections — "we need a breathing tongue between" (kith books, 2024) and "leerlauf"(parasitenpresse, 2026) — as well as several visual and performance works, all rooted in language. She lives in Berlin. Katarina's poem, "leerlauf," is featured in SAND 29.

Martina Mackinlay is a BA student at Bard College Berlin. She often asks herself, “What is a cello if not a cupped silverfish?” She doesn’t know the answer yet, so she reads very much. Martina's short story, "Red Court," is featured in SAND 29.

Dinara Rasuleva (she/they) is a translingual Berlin-based Tatar poet_ess, whose projects include: "Lostlingual" — the poetic investigation on the loss of her native language, published by Rab-Rab press; TEL:L laboratories for writing in native forgotten languages; TATAR KYZ:LAR band, whose debut album AŞ was released as a computer game. Dinara's poem, "YOM-ŞAQ," is featured in SAND 29.