Malak Khalil

My research addresses the relationship between the textual production of prison texts and their bibliographic contexts, as works that originate from individual experiences within carceral spaces to their movements between bodies, forms, and institutions. I focus mainly on works written by prisoners incarcerated on political grounds, particularly writers imprisoned for their works.

This project takes carceral texts as its focus. But, as I take it, carceral texts provide an emblematic case study through which to think more broadly about the relationship between bodies and books. The very production and reception of prison texts are contingent on the corporeal confinement of the writer behind bars. Through considering a genre which is inherently entangled with embodied experience, I ask: what might the processes of circulation, translation, editorial intervention, and facilitation in the context of carceral output teach us about the politics of books in other contexts?

My PhD is funded by the AHRC and Isaac Newton Trust. Prior to the doctorate, I was based in Oxford, where I read for a BA in English Language and Literatures (Merton College, 2020) and an MSt in World Literatures in English (Balliol College, 2021).