This World of Ours

Editorial #16

There have been two questions we have been thinking about lately—what are we to do in a world such as ours? And why does writing matter? The answer to both those questions connects them. It binds them in a bond of family relation, uniting them. We, as essayists, memoirists, witnesses, are here to write the future so that the present can be remade. That is the task before us as we continue to publish this journal in a world that is unjust and cruel. Our belief is that we each possess the power of literacy, and from our words, a better state can flow.

From our home on Whadjuk Country, where 10-year-olds are held in solitary confinement, to the shores of Singapore, home of last year’s winner, and where the death penalty is still enforced, to the valleys of Kashmir, where 2025’s essay of excellence comes from, while surveillance is all around, we know that the Indian Ocean is a place in crisis. It is a region, just like every other, where the instruments of power stifle dissent, oppress freedoms, and deny opportunity. This is the world at this historic moment—a fulcrum as always, and a challenge. And when we look at it, we could be forgiven for falling into a state of despair, of hanging our own heads in shame and giving up in front of all this violence.

And yet, writing, like other art forms, is a way to build peace. It is a way to call forward what is in our hearts and heads—maybe even souls. Writing and reading, just like music and dance and all forms of expression, empower us to imagine a better society. They offer us a vision of what we might become when the war horses fertilise the fields instead of being sent into battle. That is the joy that comes when we see peace as the highway we walk on together, broad and fair, not a byway trodden only by the few.

The essays in this issue of Portside Review speak to that. They call out, hold to account, and critique. And yet, more than that, they are the seeds and saplings, even the forests, of peace here, a type of Indian Ocean we want to believe in, one that is good and exemplary, that fosters a better world that is grounded in justice, truth, and healing itself. I thank our donors, judges, writers, winners, and readers for their shared commitment to that vision. With our collective effort, we can only answer the question I asked in the affirmative—we are to continue writing because it matters in the peace we can call forth.