Warsan Shire

Warsan Shire (c) privat

Warsan Shire: a quiet, contemplative voice with incredible force. Born in 1988 in Kenya to Somali parents, she grew up in London, where she still lives. She won her first prize at an international slam event and is now the editor of the magazines Literary arts mashup and Spook. She leads workshops, in which poetry is used as a tool to try to overcome personal traumas.
 
Publications (a selection): Teaching my Mother How to Give Birth (flipped eye, 2012), Our Men Do Not Belong To Us (2014, Prairie Schooner), grief has its blue hands in my hair (flipped eye, 2015)

Awards: Inaugural African Poetry Prize, 2013; Queensland (Australia’s) Poet in Residence, 2014