Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)

@mailbykite

Cultural worker/buruh seni. Disabled, from JKT. ANNAH, INFINITE out now ❤️‍🔥 Also wrote amuk, ULTIMATUM ORANGUTAN, ROPE, INDIGENOUS SPECIES, & I make art.

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Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· 7d

A pleasure to have read and blurbed Tolulope Oke’s debut, ENCOUNTERS. ‘it does not matter that we stress the wrong syllables when our tongues tremble from the tyranny at home, trying to enter a country that despises us.’ - from ‘Language Forgives Us More than the World Does’

Cover of Tolulope Oke’s ENCOUNTERS, a light cream cover with a city grid map on it.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jul 9

(And thx so much @suchmayer.bsky.social @burleyfisher.bsky.social for the Indonesia/SEAsia-centric display in the building’s Maktaba bookstore! 🤍)

Books by Indonesian writers/editors, including THE WANDERING; ANNAH, INFINITE; IN THE BACK OF MY THROAT, on display.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jul 9

Taring Padi art collective are one of the most meaningful practitioners of my life, as someone who grew up under Soeharto. A treat to join them for the opening of their show @ibraaz.bsky.social, on until Nov. Highly recommend if y’re in LDN, first UK show in their 28 yrs ibraaz.org/whats-on/tar...

Three giant banners by Taring Padi art collective hang on a white wall, with ppl on green carpeted steps listening to Alex Supartono, a collective member, on a microphone.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jun 22

Everyone shld read ‘I Am Not Your Translator’ by Fady Joudah @miznaarabart.bsky.social. ‘Why do you need the Arab to translate yr barbarism, yr consensus, yr insuppressible quest for righteousness & progress, […] yr fascism & reparation, yr saviorhood & genocide…’ #xl8 mizna.org/mizna-online...

Why do you need the Arab to translate your barbarism, your consensus, your insuppressible quest for righteousness and progress, your radicalism and revolution, your fascism and reparation, your saviorhood and genocide, your revolving shame that whirls everyone in it, accuses everyone of it, your triumphs over the dark, pyrrhic they may be but always worth the price of the ticket, your terror and anti-terror, your ancient diseases and civilizational ones, autoimmunity and immunosuppression, your new expanding cuisine and cemeteries, your best of humanity and the worst of it? All this you want the Arab to mime and ventriloquize of their free will. They bring you their grief and imitation so that you process and emit your light.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jun 17

Join us TUE June 30, 4-6PM UK time, for a University of Edinburgh online convo on ‘Disability as an aesthetic language’. BSL-interpreted. Ashokkumar Mistry, Aidan Moesby and I will be hosted by Ileana L. Selejan. Free tix: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disability... #DisabilityJustice 🧿

Poster for the event DISABILITY AS AN AESTHETIC LANGUAGE, with the title in large black font against solid backgrounds of red, blue, and purple. Also in black text against white: ‘The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art’, ‘Tuesday, 30 June 2026, 4-6PM’, ‘WITH KHAIRANI BAROKKA, ASHOKKUMAR MISTRY, AIDAN MOESBY, HOSTED BY ILEANA L. SELEJAN’. Thereis also my artwork ‘[MOLEKULER] EARTH’ in the middle, a digital collage of blue, red, and purple hues, connecting the military industrial complex to Covid-19 mismanagement.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jun 12

The online tix are maxed out, but just want to shout out organisers Becky Beasley, Astrid Everall & Lyle Waddell for providing rest beds for anyone at this symposium in person… Inc this one that was previously put on stage for my presentation in case I needed it. & great line-up! #Access #CripLit

A grey rest bed in an aisle, w snacks on it.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jun 8

The US edition is here! And I must say, I really like the colour scheme for the Tower of Babel. Hope you enjoy (re)reading our essays. #xl8

Neon pink and purple book cover of VIOLENT PHENOMENA: ESSAYS TOWARD THE FUTURE OF LITERARY TRANSLATION, with the Tower of Babel illustrated.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· May 21

Come join my Online Masterclass for @arvonfoundation.bsky.social on Writing with Grief, Fri, JULY 31, 10AM-12 BST. How to write abt grief and means of repair—capturing & honouring what has passed, &what remains—across genres, in a safe, supportive environment.🤍 www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· May 21

Love how artist Prem Sahib’s book THAT FIRE OVER THERE includes an actual physical photo of his first birthday cake, as well as his sculpture recreating it. The book is a necessary personal and political history of racialised violence and resistance to it in London.

Two pages of Prem Sahib’s book THAT FIRE OVER THERE, showing his recreation of his 1st bday cake, as well as a single physical photo of the actual cake. The cake is white with a border of orange and red garnish, saying in red ‘HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, PREMDEEP’.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Mar 9

Looking at this makes me so happy. Was gifted the best tote bag—embroidered with Urdu, and emblazoned with the faces of writers Parveen Shakir, Kamala Surayya, and Amrita Pritam. By artist Shiraz Husain’s Khwaab Tanha Collective. homegrown.co.in/homegrown-vo...

White tote bag (on grey carpet), with large black illustrations of writers Amrita Pritam, Kamala Surayya, and Parveen Shakir (names in text next to their faces), embroidered with red beads making an Urdu word, next to the text CREATE.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Mar 4

So much to say abt last wkend’s first Disabled Legacies sessions w Paul Mellon Centre. In short: one of the best periods of collective crip joy I’ve ever seen. #DisabilityJustice Registration for our March events on now, all free & hybrid: www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/whats-on/for...

Photo of a screen on a wall, above a few steps, saying DISABLED LEGACIES | BEYOND ACCESS AND INCLUSION | 26-28 FEBRUARY | WHAT IS RESEARCH NOW? with blue and white-patterned illustration behind it.

Photo of seven people in bright clothing, one in a rollator, the rest standing, smiling at the camera.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Feb 27

Sandy Ho: ‘Repeat after me: We are the past. We are the present. We are the future. We are forever.’ Our entire programming is dedicated to Alice Wong. Tk you, Sandy. Join in online. #DisabledLegacies #CripArt #DisabilityJustice

Picture of an Asian woman in a wheelchair, speaking to a white man with cane, next to a BSL interpreter, with a large screen to her right.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Feb 26

Southbank Centre’s inaugural Indie Night was Truly Lovely. A full house for indie pubs! Tx hosts Okey & Eliza, fellow readers Deepa, Vigdis & Tim, access staff & Tilted Axis’ Phuong Anh (in pic). The love ANNAH, INFINITE was shown by the audience at signings afterwards means Everything. Makasih!

Picture of a smiling Indonesian woman with long hair and a blue and white shirt, holding up the lilac book ANNAH, INFINITE, next to an enby Vietnamese person with red hair and a black leather jacket. Behind us are red and grey curtains.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Feb 20

Next WED Feb 25, 7.45PM London time, I’ll be reading, chatting and signing ANNAH, INFINITE at Southbank Centre’s Indie Night. 🤍 Tix here, wonderful line-up: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/ind... All performances Speech-to-Text Transcribed, and more venue access info through link.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Feb 16

Joy in the book post. 💚 I have a poem in TENDRILS: ECOPOETICS OF COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE, edited by the brilliant Fieldnotes Collective (Pratyusha, Jessica J. Lee, Alycia Pirmohamed, Nina Mingya Powles). @silver-press.bsky.social www.silverpress.org/products/ten...

A silver book on a grey carpet, with black and purple drawings of tendrils and shapes, and black text saying ‘TENDRILS: ECOPOETICS OF COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE | EDITED BY FIELDNOTES COLLECTIVE’.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Feb 13

Recently translated Soviah Khoriyati’s charming ‘I was looking for surrogate parents’, an ode to Jakarta kos, & letter to fellow City of Lit Nottingham. A post on @theletterspage.bsky.social site abt her piece & Ibu kos in a lineage of muses: theletters.page/2025/11/24/l... @jonmcgregor.bsky.social

Image of a brown journal on a table, with a black illustration of a map showing Europe, Asia, and Africa, and text saying ‘The Letters Page Vol. 5 | Edited by Jon McGregor’.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Feb 2

Can’t stop teaching poetry when I can, it seems, it is just too much fun. Come join EKPHRASTIC EXPERIMENTS, an online wshop as part of the Tsaa with Roma series ✨ We’ll be inspired by (absolute) cinema, visual arts, performance art… Sunday FEB 28, 1PM UK time: www.romalynante.com/event-detail...

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jan 16

Please join us at SOAS and online for HOW WE APPEAR AND HOW WE ARE FELT: A Conversation w Dr Khairani Barokka about ANNAH, INFINITE. Can’t wait to be in convo w Dr Anandi Rao and with all of you via Q and A. JAN 29, 5-7PM BST, Register via QR code www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/...

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Jan 11

They do a solid chocolate orange cake at Café Palestina, Kentish Town. 💚🤍❤️🖤

Photo of a chocolate orange cake on a sea green plate, with a fork in it and a bite eaten.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Dec 17

Proud to announce Spring 2026’s What Is Research Now? from Paul Mellon Ctr, co-convened by Sria Chatterjee, Kenny Fries, & myself. DISABLED LEGACIES: BEYOND ACCESS AND INCLUSION www.britishart.ac.uk/about/news/w... 26-28 Feb & 26-28 Mar 2026 @jaivirdi.com @syrusmarcusware.bsky.social many more ✨

Against an abstract backgeound of blue and white, an artwork by Resting Museum, pink/purple text against pink/purple background says ‘Disabled Legacies, Beyond Access and Inclusion | 26-28 February and 26-28 March, Central London | Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art | What is Research Now?’

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Dec 16

Tk you to Eli of Shape Arts for this audio interview (w transcripts) w Bella Milroy & myself on our duo show, Languages of Intimacy—my KEROKAN POL & her popcorn fur. www.shapearts.org.uk/Blog/qa-bell... This clip is a peek into my 4 short films on crip intimacies, shot in JKT, w a fab cast & crew🤍

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Dec 5

A privilege to blurb KOESTLER VOICES: NEW POETRY FROM PRISONS VOL. 5, ed. Lady Unchained. Poets are everywhere, unstoppable. ‘Britain was the first European ctry to introduce private, for-profit prisons & has since created the most privatised system in Europe.’ B Morris, Immigration Advice Service

An orange book with blue writing, on a grey duvet. The cover says ‘Koestler Voices: New Poetry from Prisons | Vol. 5 | Edited by Lady Unchained’.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 21

Some pics from our amazing discussion this week with Birmingham School of Art about Languages of Intimacy, duo exhibition with Bella Milroy on sick-disabled intimacies. We are publishing a book next yr abt this process-oriented crip project, and working on a post-show joint artwork, stay tuned ✨

Two disabled artists, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, and an Indonesian woman with black hair and glasses, hugging and smiling. ✨

Six people—three on each side of the stage—speaking in front of a screen with live captions, and a microphone in the middle.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 21

#Xl8 This TRANSLATOR Mag tote deserves a close-up, will be in heavy rotation.

Big navy blue tote bag, w pink TRANSLATOR on it.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 21

!!! Terima kasih TRANSLATOR MAG for these gifts, inc a review of ANNAH, INFINITE by Fairuza Hanun—labelled ‘ULASAN’ and ‘REVIEW’. ‘Within each of us, a fragment of Annah lives on, reincarnating in the portraits of wmn, queer ppl, Indigenous ppls, & ppl of colour, those both oppressed & joyful.’ ❤️

TRANSLATOR MAG tote bag, postcards, one copy of Issue 1 and two copies of Issue 2, on grey carpet.

Review of ANNAH, INFINITE in TRANSLATOR MAG, black text on yellow paper with a trim of black text on white paper.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 11

‘A wonderful, heartening thought, imagining Annah’s revenge.’ Thank you SO much for this review of ANNAH, INFINITE, on the day of its US pub date—I was deeply touched to read it. 🙏🏼 May we all be blessed by the kind of power inherent in Annah/s’ revenge. hararereview.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/a...

‘… I am always imagining, and laughing into, all of our escapes – all my ancestors as children, we are escaping the frame together, towards tenderness, as we always have been.’ From Annah, Infinite

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 11

Tk you, it’s a happy US pub day for ANNAH, INFINITE! Please note, Nth American buyers, that using this @openpoetrybooks.bsky.social @workshops4gaza.bsky.social link means you can give % of proceeds to the Sameer Project. open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/products/w4g... #CripLit #xl8

Pink book, ANNAH, INFINITE by Khairani Barokka, against a pink and white background.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 10

Cannot say enough good things about this work of crystalline poetry, each poem—about Indian cities and kingdoms past and present—deeply relevant to the current political moment. A treat to meet up w Rahul Soni and celebrate his translation of Shrikant Verma’s MAGADH.

Magadh by Shrikant Verma, translated by Rahul Soni. A white book with black text, on a wooden table.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 10

Join Bella Milroy and I for an-conversation at Birmingham School of Art about our duo show Languages of Intimacy. 🤍🤍 Next week, Wed 19 Nov, 6-8PM UK time, on site at the gallery (B3 3BX) or online. www.grand-union.org.uk/whats-on/in-... #xl8 #CripArt

In Conversation: Bella Milroy and Khairani Barokka
Birmingham School of Art
19 November 2025
6–8pm
Join us at Birmingham School of Art (B3 3BX) or online for an in-depth conversation with the artists of ‘Languages of Intimacy’, who will be talking about their process-oriented practices, the experience of creating the exhibition, and broader themes of intimacy, play, crip time and the messiness of institutional and non-institutional practice in relation to the disabled body and experience.

Further details will be shared in the run up to the event.

Okka (Khairani Barokka; she/her/dia)@mailbykite· Nov 6

A reminder came in the mail of poetry’s multiform abilities. I have a new poem in Magma’s Liberation Issue, alongside many wonderful voices, and will be reading at the online launch: Register at magma93launch.eventbrite.hk THU 13 November, 7PM GMT