Murtaza Barlas is a poet, writer, and cultural and community activist from Afghanistan, whose life and work have been shaped by his deep connection to homeland, memory, suffering, and the search for freedom. He spent many years as part of Kabul’s cultural and intellectual life and, alongside his work as a poet and writer, served as a university lecturer and worked at Afghanistan’s Attorney General’s Office. The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021 opened a new chapter in his life. After a difficult journey out of Afghanistan with his family, Murtaza eventually settled in Stornoway, Scotland. For Murtaza, migration was not the end of a story; it was the beginning of another, the story of a poet who carries his homeland with him.