Barfi Books is Wilman Fikker Publishing House's annual anthology, named after the sweetest treat in our community because that's exactly the feeling we wanted the whole thing to have.
This was my mother's dream. She dreamed of a space where ordinary people's stories could be told and honoured, and we thought why not? She named it after barfi because barfi is small and sweet and shared and, she said, she has never met a person who doesn't like barfi.
Volume 1 launched at a time when authors paid to have their stories included in anthologies. Publishers covered their costs, guaranteed their return, and authors footed the bill for the privilege of being read.
We looked at that age-old idea and said, no thank you. We pay our authors. Every aunty who has ever given me a word of advice should be compensated and every bit of wisdom earned by each contributor should be compensated.
It made no business sense. There was no clever plan behind it. It sounded like the right thing to do, and we did it. People were sceptical. Some called it a lovely idea, some said we'll fizzle out, few call it smart, and some are still waiting for the catch.
But Wilman Fikker Publishing House was never built on business sense. It was built on: does this leave something good behind? Because a world where only the stories of people who can afford to be published get passed down to our children, is a sad world indeed.
That's how Barfi Books became an empowerment project. The idea is to get regular people to share their stories, and we all walk away a little wiser for it. Quite astounding in its simplicity, because publishing shouldn't be gatekept, it should be a table with enough chairs for everyone who has a story. And who doesn't have a story?
Volume 1 launched in Durban at a beautiful, intimate gathering hosted by AMWASA's Waheeda Joosab together with Naadira Chhipa and Nasreen Variyawa. Everyone left with barfi to take home and the books had officially entered people's homes and hearts. The reviews were encouraging, the love was humbling, and the stories brought laughs and tears.
Then submissions came in for Volume 2 and it was almost overwhelming.
Volume 2 has been a different story entirely. AMWASA did something only an Association of Muslim Women Authors of South Africa could do! They brought muslim women of South Africa together. There were three Barfi Table events across South Africa on 4 July 2026 and they were, without exaggeration I promise, the sweetest gatherings. I was personally at the Rustenburg one and I have heard from attendees at the other ones. My WhatsApp has been pinging away with praises of strangers becoming cheerleaders over shared barfi and shared stories. Reviews of the event (and the book) will be posted soon. If you were there, please do let us know your thoughts. If you've read the book, please do too.
And there's more still to come, Inshaa-Allah. This dream keeps finding new tables. Lenasia's Barfi Table will take place on the 25th of July. If you're in the area, keen to join us, or missed the first three, the RSVP link is below. The Barfi Table Jeddah will take place end of August if you're lucky enough to be on that side of planet Earth.
RSVP for the Lenasia Barfi Table
Submissions for Barfi Books Volume 3 are officially open. If you have a story waiting to be told, this is your invitation to a seat at the table.
Submit Your Story for Volume 3
I won't pretend I saw any of this coming. Nobody executes their mother's dream and an empowerment project with a five-city plan. We started it because we believe it should exist and hoped it would survive long enough to matter to more than a handful of people.
Watching it grow like this is humbling in a way I don't have words for, and that's a LOT coming from me with no shortage of words. It makes me want to cry grateful tears and if this is what a mother's dua can do, I am greedy for more.
Thank you to every Volume 1 Barfini who trusted us with their story before we'd proven ourselves.
Thank you to every Volume 2 Barfini whose submissions were accepted, and to those whose weren't (some are being kept for Volume 3).
Thank you to everyone who has shown up at a Barfi Table and made a venue feel like home for a few hours.
Thank you to the amazing facilitators at each event. You have carried the sweetness forward.
And thank you to everyone who has helped carry this further than we could ever have carried it alone. You are our community, our people, and we hope to do justice to your stories.
The biggest THANK YOU goes out to AMWASA. Waheeda believed in what this could become when it was still a proposal. Thank you for being the ground this dream got to stand on.
May Barfi Books keep growing, city by city, table by table.
And may the goodness in it outlive all of us.
Khadija
Wilman Fikker Publishing House