For Kurdish novelist and journalist Behrouz Boochani, writing is an ‘act of resistance’. In 2013, he fled persecution in Irandue to cultural activities but on arriving to the Australian territory of Christmas Island, he was exiled to an offshore immigration detention on Manus Island, where he remained for six years under brutal conditions. The novel he wrote there, sent out to a journalist via WhatsApp messages, was awarded one of Australia’s most prestigious literary prizes. Accepting the prize from Manus Island, Boochani described it as ‘a victory for humanity’; a recognition of his art even as the system sought to obliterate the individual identities of the Manus Island detainees. He was formally recognised as a refugee in New Zealand in 2020.