The Go-Between: A Portrait of Growing Up Between Different Worlds; Osman Yousef Zada

The son of Afghan parents, Osman Yousefzada was raised in post-industrial Birmingham. Osman's father was a carpenter, and his mother, to help make ends meet, took up sewing and became a seamstress. Women from Indian-East African, Israeli, Shia and Afghan communities came together in the Yousefzada household to have clothes made and mended by his mother. Osman learned the craft at her knee and became enraptured by what was deemed a woman's job, and increasingly found himself at odds with the highly patriarchal culture he grew up in.

Whether secretly bringing his sister books and magazines from the local library, lusting after forbidden jelly in the local shop, or chatting to the area's prostitutes, Osman quietly weaved in and out of different spheres.

But no one can be a go-between forever, and Osman's is a story of finding your own way, even if it means turning your back on the world you know.

April 5, 2022