Astray

09/10/2026

What makes us any different to all the humans who came before us? We need stories. When it's dark, they save our souls.

Downstream from ruptures in transmission, our mythologies are a site of memory and a manifestation of elite intentions. Passed down beneath, our folklore is cased in recipes and rituals, calendars and lullabies.

This we gather to contemplate, inviting 22 curious guests to a whimsical manor on the banks of Dyarubbin / the Hawkesbury River.

Over a series of workshops, we will pool what we know, unearth the lesser-told and patch our collective memory ~ then you'll weave together a folkloric work of your own.

What you make ~ perhaps a folktale, an essay, a map or a poem ~ will be shared with your new friends over a feast we cook for each other on our final night, each dish with a story attached.

Expect garden writing salons, campfire storytelling, guided trips to sacred sites in the bush, Iranian spreads, readings down the pub, counter-history lessons, sun printing, waterhole frolicking and an air of the fantastical.

Hosted by writers with roots in Iran, “Australia” and Europe, this 10-day folklore residency is supported by Wiradjuri man Uncle Col Lyons, who has lived on Darkinjung Country for two decades.

22 places available, with one full scholarship for First Nations applicants.

To apply, head to our website / link in bio and tell us a bit about why you are drawn to this project, and we will get in touch to arrange a call.

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Images and videos taken from public domain archives, including كتاب عجايب مخلوقات (horoscope creatures from Isfahan, 1923), the Cottingley Fairy photographs (1917), footage of a kaparunina/thylacine/Tasmanian tiger (1933), the 'Surgeon's Photograph' of the Loch Ness Monster (1934) and footage from the first science fiction film Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902) and footage of a Finnish nuuttipukki / Swedish julbock aka the dastardly yule goat (1928).

The song is a traditional Lori lullaby from Basht, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Iran

06/04/2026

05/27/2026

What is a woman, if not a keeper of signs? A reader of quiet omens? A tender of things that grow in inconvenient places?

Every morning I stand on the balcony with a water pipe in my hand, sending a thin silver arc across a wall that should not matter as much as it does. Three banana plants are just there, on the other side, rooted in someone else's earth. I watch the water reach them and something in my chest releases

04/17/2026

Ideas felt linger longer. Aesthetics wielded well can mobilise change.

Starving artists are by design. It is not within the interests of our oppressive systems to subsidise or broadcast challenges to their authority. Artists unwilling to censor themselves will not be fed.

And yet they survive. They find small spaces to thrive, gathering spit in their mouths to spite the eyes of their attempted silencers.

If you, like we, are keen to find the true ambassadors of any culture, seek out the underrepresented artists, and listen to the voices that—often silenced—deserve to be heard, then you are in the right place.

These voices can be, unsurprisingly, difficult to find. But we hope to aid in your search. This pocket guide is our effort to spotlight Tokyo's indie artists and activists: the do-it-yourself folks, the grassroots organisers finding ways to circumnavigate gatekeepers, to operate extra-institutionally, unconventionally, and without permission.

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'Art and Activism in Tokyo: A Pocket Guide' was put together by Alex, and .foster_. To read it up close, click the 'Shelf' tab on our website or DM us for a link.

03/20/2026

Tia Lewis (doodler and social introvert), Mikayla Preston (editor and reclusive introvert) and Helen Lee (designer and outdoorsy introvert) spent a month with us in Tokyo collaborating on this ripper piece: an introvert's guide to Taitō.

In their own words...

Taitō (台東区, Taitō-ku, or Taitō City in English) is a special ward offering a taste of Tokyo away from bustling areas like Shibuya and Shinjuku. When the city gets overwhelming, retreat to Taitō, where there's many a safe haven for your inner introvert.

No matter what kind of introvert you are, we hope you find the places and spaces and people that make your time in Taitō as special as it was for us.

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The link to read it in full is in our story, or DM us and we'll send it to you!

12/11/2025

Cities in the West are swaddled in myth. Cities in India are rarely granted the same romantic filter.

During my second year of university, I finally gave him a name: Noah. And whenever I don my chest binder, he appears.

11/16/2025

During my second year of university, I finally gave him a name. And whenever I don my chest binder, he appears.

During my second year of university, I finally gave him a name: Noah. And whenever I don my chest binder, he appears.

08/01/2025

‘Retreat’ can be a loaded and luxurious word in a world where the concept of “care” is commodified and sold back to us as an individualist pursuit only – often against the backdrop of a place where value is extracted and not returned.

This project is not that.

From a charming cottage and a woman-owned coworking space, we’ll gather daily for workshops, excursions and talks.

07/17/2025

We just spent a week deep in conversation about identity, abstraction, recontextualisation and resistance with a team of writers from Singapore, India and the U.S.

What emerged were four incredible zines that push back against something deeply felt – printed on recycled paper using a Risograph machine and soy-based ink at in Tokyo, Japan.

In KACHA SUTA, meaning raw thread in Bengali, NY-based writer explores the breadth of her relationship to the clothing label 'Made in Bangladesh' – looking at conditions for women working in garment factories and the appropriation of Desi fashion into so-called Scandinavia core and Coachella wear.

published KNOW YOUR HINDUTVA to shed light on the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, critically examining key narratives, fabricated histories and the weaponisation of 'jihad' to expose the underlying Islamophobic propaganda fueling the Hindutva ideology (as distinct from Hinduism).

In an act of resistance against capitalism and cultural attitudes to mental health in Singapore, linguist .oee plunges readers into organised chaos with IN MY HEAD – breaking down stigmas, narratives of othering and the realities of being a young person who refuses to conform in a neoliberal surveillance state.

Pulling ideas from centuries-old Japanese gossip, Connie created her own version of Sei Shōnagon’s PILLOW BOOK. Inspired by scathing judgments of the Heian court and charming observations of all the beautiful little things in life, Connie’s zine explores the tension between two opposing narratives on women’s fashion: the status-obsessed utilitarianism of the industry, and the condemnation of fashion as consumerist sin. Like Shōnagon, Connie defends the pursuit of beauty and craftsmanship for its own sake

All print runs are super limited – contact us if you'd like to learn more about the authors and their work.

[CONT. IN COMMENTS]

06/24/2025

I wish I could bake and walk door to door offering brownies 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘯! 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦? 𝘔𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦’𝘴 𝘛𝘰𝘺𝘰𝘴𝘪—𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶!

I wish my cat liked me. I wish she lit up and meowed when she heard me call her name. I wish she ran to me in the morning or even just entered a room. I wish she climbed up onto the couch or my desk chair or the dining room table to sit with me, or on me.I wish she purred in my lap, rumbling away co