Warsan Shire

Warsan Shire is a British poet, writer, editor, and teacher. She was the first Young Poet Laureate of London. 

Shire was mentored through The Complete Works programme for poets of colour and published her first chapbook Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth at flipped eye publishing in 2011. This was followed by the limited-edition pamphlet Her Blue Body in 2015, and her debut poetry collection Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head in 2022. This collection was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her poetry has been featured in the films Lemonade and Black is King by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

Warsan Shire draws inspiration from personal experiences and the lives of those around her. She describes writing about the unimaginable things that relatives and friends have experienced as a cathartic practice, as it exposes wounds and pain – both of others and her own – and creates the possibility of healing. In doing so, she amplifies the voices of immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized groups. As a first-generation immigrant herself, she uses her poetry to connect to her parents’ home country, Somalia, by incorporating elements of Somali culture and language into her work. In Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth (2011), she illustrates the impact of atrocities such as war and displacement on women’s bodies, while tracing the chronology of life – from adolescence to married life and motherhood, and ultimately to death. 

Warsan Shire has performed and taught workshops around the world. Her poetry has been published in several literary magazines, including The Poetry Review and Wasafiri, as well as various anthologies, including Salt Book of Younger Poets (2011) and New Daughters of Africa (2019). In 2013, she received the African Poetry Prize from Brunel University, and in 2017 she was included in the Penguin Modern Poets Series. Shire’s poetry has been translated into numerous languages, including Spanish, Swedish, Italian, and Estonian. 

Links
Shire’s Tumblr
Shire’s blog Warsan in Wonderland
Digital album Warsan Versus Melancholy
An interview with Indigo Williams
An interview at The Well & Often Reader
Spook Magazine