Warsan Shire was born on 1 August 1988 and is a British writer, poet, editor, and teacher who was born to Somali parents in Kenya.
18 Facts About Warsan Shire
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Warsan Shire has a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing.
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Warsan Shire was mentored through The Complete Works programme for poets of colour.
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Warsan Shire has read her poetry in various artistic venues throughout the world, including in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, North America, South Africa, and Kenya.
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Warsan Shire's poems have been published in various literary publications, including The Poetry Review, Magma, and Wasafiri.
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Warsan Shire's poems has been featured in the collections Salt Book of Younger Poets, Ten: The New Wave, and New Daughters of Africa.
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Warsan Shire's poetry has been translated into a number of languages, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, and Estonian.
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Warsan Shire put out a limited-release pamphlet called Her Blue Body in 2015.
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Warsan Shire serves as the poetry editor at Spook magazine and teaches poetry workshops globally.
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Warsan Shire's poetry featured prominently in Beyonce's 2016 feature-length film Lemonade.
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Beyonce's interest in Warsan Shire's work was sparked by Warsan Shire's piece "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love".
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Warsan Shire published her first full-length poetry collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems, on 1 March 2022.
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Warsan Shire was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday by Sarah McCammon on 27 February 2022 about the book.
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Warsan Shire writes about and for people whose voices are generally not heard, like immigrants and refugees as well as other marginalized people.
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Warsan Shire was chosen from a shortlist of six candidates out of a total 655 entries.
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In October 2013, Warsan Shire was selected from a shortlist of six as the first Young Poet Laureate for London.
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In 2014, Warsan Shire was chosen as poet-in-residence of Queensland, Australia, liaising with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts over a six-week period.
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In June 2018, Warsan Shire was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature for its "40 Under 40" initiative.