Warsan Shire

Warsan Shire is a poet and writer born in Somalia and raised in London. She is the author of the collections "Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth," "Her Blue Body," and "Our Men Do Not Belong to Us". In addition to these chapbooks, she has completed a full-length debut poetry collection titled "Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head". Her work has been published in journals and magazines, including Poetry Review, Wasafiri, and Sable LitMag; the anthologies Salt Book of Younger Poets, Long Journeys: African Migrants on the Road, and Poems That Make Grown Women Cry; and the Penguin Modern Poets series.

Shire's poetry extends beyond print to include significant collaborations in the audio-visual domain. She wrote the poetry for the Peabody Award-winning visual album "Lemonade" in collaboration with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and for the Disney film "Black Is King". Not limiting her work to music and film, she also penned the short film "Brave Girl Rising", bringing to light the experiences of Somali girls in Africa’s largest refugee camp.

Shire’s work embodies the kind of shape-shifting, culture-juggling spirit lurking in most people who can’t trace their ancestors to their country’s founding fathers, or whose ancestors look nothing like those fathers. In that limbo, Shire conjures up a new language for belonging and displacement. Her poems connect gender, war, sex, and cultural assumptions. In her work, poetry is a healing agent for the trauma of exile and suffering.

Additionally, Shire has held noteworthy positions in the literary world, serving as the first Young Poet Laureate of London, was awarded the inaugural Brunel International African Poetry Prize, and is the youngest member of the Royal Society of Literature. As the poetry editor of Spook Magazine, while also guest editing Young Sable LitMag, Shire continues to actively participate in mentoring and workshops. She has read her work at events across the globe and further expanded her reach by serving as the poet-in-residence for Queensland, Australia. Shire resides in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.