Projects › Wánu

Wánu is the working title of Alice’s new literary project. It is the Quechua word and origin for the term guano, bird poo, which became infamous in the nineteenth century after British merchants began exporting it to Europe to use as fertilizer.

Alice’s short story, ‘The Siren’, exploring this subject-matter, can be read here. It was written during her creative writing residency at Exeter Custom House with Quay Words and was published in the 2023 anthology.

In 2023 Alice and Chilean artivists Hilanderas gave a poetic performance at the British Library as part of her Eccles Centre Summer Scholars talk. The poem La Voz de la Tierra (Voice of the Earth) which Hilanderas wrote and performed with Alice, responding to her work, is here:

In 2026, Alice was awarded Fundación Gabo’s Michael Jacobs Travel Award for this new work-in-progress.