Travel & Culture Writing Portfolio
Bilal Dadar is a Zanzibari writer based on the Swahili coast. He writes humorous and thoughtful travel pieces about language, time, and the small cultural misunderstandings that reveal how people measure the world.
Location: Zanzibar, Tanzania
Contact:
editing@bilaldadar.com
A Gulf visitor in East Africa learns Kiswahili quickly—or so he thinks. But when he books an airport taxi using a direct Arabic-to-Swahili translation, he accidentally schedules his pickup six hours early. The culprit? A world where Saturday is “Day One,” clocks begin at sunrise, and language is never as straightforward as it seems.
Status: Unpublished. Full manuscript available for editors on request.
In snow-dusted Sapporo, Hana moves through a world where numbers are never neutral. Seven shimmers indigo and smells faintly of lavender smoke and frozen mint, while larger magnitudes deepen into richer perfumes. As the city counts and measures itself in timetables, receipts, and glowing billboards, Hana experiences mathematics as a private symphony of colour and scent—an unseen beauty unfolding in the cold northern light.
Status: Unpublished. Full manuscript available for editors on request.
I write narrative travel and cultural essays, as well as short literary fiction, with a focus on:
I am currently open to assignments and commissions in travel, culture, and narrative nonfiction, especially stories connected to East Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
Editors are welcome to get in touch for private manuscripts or pitches: