I'm Billie Romoli.
I write speculative fiction & humorous nonfiction.
Afghan-American writer based in Brussels, turning a lifetime of crossing countries, cultures, and occasionally questionable situations into fiction and nonfiction.
ABOUT BILLIE
I am an Afghan-American writer based in Brussels, writing speculative fiction and humorous nonfiction. I am a second-generation immigrant whose family fled Afghanistan amid the political upheaval that transformed the country in the 1970s and ultimately led to the Soviet invasion. I grew up between two worlds that, at times, were completely at odds with one another.Instead of following my family’s medical tradition—or choosing some other profession deemed acceptable by immigrant parents—I earned two master’s degrees in International Studies and Human Rights Law, the latter jokingly referred to by my father as “a degree in fairy tales.”I spent much of my career working in international development and human rights, often in places that made my parents lose sleep. Those experiences shaped the way I see the world: its politics, its absurdities, its inequalities, and, perhaps most of all, human nature.Somewhere along the way, I met my Italian husband in Afghanistan, moved across several countries, and—because God, or whoever is in charge up there, decided I didn’t have enough on my plate—was blessed with identical twin boys. We eventually landed in Brussels. It was not exactly the life trajectory little Billie had envisioned for herself.My husband deserves a major shout-out for pushing me to write and, more importantly, to put my thoughts on paper. For years, he listened to me explain all the ways the world was going to shit, occasionally before he had even had his espresso. Putting my worst-case scenarios into speculative fiction was probably a relief for both of us.As for nonfiction, after hearing one too many of my trademark stories, he began pointing out, “Billie, you’ve told this one before.”So now I write them down.I began writing seriously after the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID upended the international development sector and, with it, my own livelihood. In other words, President Trump rather graciously freed up my schedule—and gave me a lot of material to write about.Writing became my catharsis through unemployment, postpartum depression, motherhood, whatever weird moment in human history we’re currently living through, and all the other shit life tends to drag you through. It also brought me back to something I had loved long before I ever made a career out of anything else.My work draws on immigration, identity, family, conflict, displacement, motherhood, and the strange experience of belonging to several places while never fitting neatly into any of them.I am currently in the process of publishing my first novel, Head South, a work of speculative fiction shaped by my experiences and my perspective on an increasingly uncertain world.
COMING SOON
What happens when the world as we know it takes a turn for the worse—and the countries that once offered refuge are no longer safe? Where do we go next?
Pari has spent her career working in conflict-affected regions, helping others navigate insecurity. She never imagined she would become one of them.The warning signs are familiar. She has seen them firsthand and heard them in the stories of family members who fled their country after a coup d’état. Except now, those same signs are appearing at her own front door.But recognizing instability from the safety of the West is not so simple. There are guardrails here. Institutions. Systems built to hold. Or at least, that is what she has always been taught to believe.Surely we are safe here?
Reality answers that question rather quickly. And rudely.Head South is a speculative novel about displacement, family, and the uncomfortable question of who becomes a refugee when the direction of safety changes.
“Safety is a story we tell ourselves, right up until reality barges through the door.”
GET IN TOUCH
For book inquiries, collaborations, podcasts, events, or just to say hello—I’d love to hear from you.