Warsan Shire

Born on 1 August 1988 in Kenya to Somali parents, Shire migrated with her family to the United Kingdom at the age of one. She has four siblings.{{cite web |title=Bio |url=http://www.warsanshire.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202215956/http://www.warsanshire.com/ |archive-date=2 February 2015 |access-date= |website=warsan shire |url-status=usurped |publisher=}} She has a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing.{{Cite web |title=Warsan Shire Biography |url=https://www.poetrysoup.com/warsan_shire/biography |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=PoetrySoup.com |language=en}}

In 2011, she released Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, a poetry pamphlet published by flipped eye. A full collection of hers was released in 2016, also through flipped eye. Shire was mentored through The Complete Works programme for poets of colour.

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.{{cite web |author= |date=30 April 2013 |title=Warsan Shire Wins Brunel University African Poetry Prize 2013 |url=http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2013/04/30/warsan-shire-wins-brunel-university-african-poetry-prize-2013/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002354/http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2013/04/30/warsan-shire-wins-brunel-university-african-poetry-prize-2013/ |archive-date=2013-12-03 |access-date= |work=Books LIVE}} Her poems have been published in various literary publications, including The Poetry Review, Magma, and Wasafiri. Shire's poems has been featured in the collections Salt Book of Younger Poets (Salt, 2011), Ten: The New Wave (Bloodaxe, 2014), and New Daughters of Africa (edited by Margaret Busby, 2019).{{Cite web |last=Obi-Young |first=Otosirieze |author-link=Otosirieze Obi-Young |date=2018-01-10 |title=Margaret Busby's New Daughters of Africa Anthology to Feature 200 Female Writers Including Adichie, Aminatta Forna, Bernadine Evaristo, Imbolo Mbue, Warsan Shire, Zadie Smith |url=https://brittlepaper.com/2018/01/anthology-edited-margaret-busby-collects-writing-200-african-women-generations/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Brittle Paper |language=en-US}} Her poetry has been translated into a number of languages, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, and Estonian.

Shire put out a limited-release pamphlet called Her Blue Body in 2015.{{cite web |date=12 November 2015 |title=New Warsan Shire Pamphlet From Spread The Word |url=http://africanpoetrybf.unl.edu/?p=3474 |access-date=29 March 2016 |website=African Poetry Book Fund |publisher=}} She serves as the poetry editor at Spook magazine and teaches poetry workshops globally.

Shire's poetry featured prominently in Beyoncé's 2016 feature-length film Lemonade.{{cite web |author=Leaf |first=Aaron |date=23 April 2016 |title=Ibeyi, Laolu Senbanjo, Warsan Shire Featured in Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' |url=https://www.okayafrica.com/beyonce-lemonade-ibeyi-laolu-senbanjo-warsan-shire/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425112002/http://www.okayafrica.com/news/beyonce-lemonade-ibeyi-laolu-senbanjo-warsan-shire/ |archive-date=25 April 2016 |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=OkayAfrica}} Beyoncé's interest in Shire's work was sparked by Shire's piece "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love".{{Cite news|url=https://mic.com/articles/141711/here-s-the-warsan-shire-poem-that-caught-beyonc-s-attention-for-lemonade#.KtM17Fapm|title=Here's the Warsan Shire Poem That Caught Beyoncé's Attention for 'Lemonade'|last=King|first=Jamilah|newspaper=Mic|date=25 April 2016|access-date=6 December 2016}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/arts/music/warsan-shire-who-gave-poetry-to-beyonces-lemonade.html|title=Warsan Shire, the Woman Who Gave Poetry to Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'|last=Hess|first=Amanda|date=27 April 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=6 December 2016}} Beyoncé again featured Shire's poetry in her 2020 musical film Black Is King.{{Cite web|last=Thompson|first=Rachel|title=Beyoncé drops breathtaking 'Black Is King' visual album with cameos from all the family|url=https://mashable.com/article/beyonce-black-is-king/|access-date=August 3, 2020|website=Mashable|date=July 31, 2020|language=en|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804123547/https://mashable.com/article/beyonce-black-is-king/|url-status=live}}

Shire published her first full-length poetry collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems, on 1 March 2022.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/14/warsan-shires-portraits-of-somalis-in-exile | title=Warsan Shire's Portraits of Somalis in Exile| magazine=The New Yorker | date=7 February 2022 | access-date=27 February 2022 | last=Okeowo|first= Alexis}} Shire was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday by Sarah McCammon on 27 February 2022 about the book.{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2022/02/27/1083361150/beyonce-collaborator-warsan-shire-releases-her-first-full-collection-of-poetry | title=Beyoncé collaborator Warsan Shire releases her first full collection of poetry| website=NPR.org | date=27 February 2022 | access-date=27 February 2022 | author=McCammon, Sarah}}

Shire draws on the personal experiences from her own life and the lives of people with whom she is close. She writes about and for people whose voices are generally not heard, like immigrants and refugees as well as other marginalized people.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/apr/27/warsan-shire-young-poet-laureate-beyonce-lemonade-london|title=Warsan Shire: the Somali-British poet quoted by Beyoncé in Lemonade|last=Zakaria|first=Rafia|date=27 April 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|issn=0261-3077|access-date=6 December 2016}} Shire is also quoted as saying: "I also navigate a lot through memory, my memories and other people's memories, trying to essentially just make sense of stuff." As a first-generation immigrant, she has used her poetry to connect with her home country of Somalia, which she has never visited but which she describes as "a nation of poets."{{Cite web |date=9 January 2023 |title=Warsan Shire on a Nation of Poets |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gl62 |website=BBC Radio 4}} Her words "No one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark," from the poem Home "Conversations about home (at a deportation centre)", have been called "a rallying call for refugees and their advocates."{{cite news |last1=Kuo |first1=Lily |date=30 January 2017 |title='HOME' This poem is now the rallying call for refugees: 'No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark' |url=https://qz.com/897871/warsan-shires-poem-captures-the-reality-of-life-for-refugees-no-one-leaves-home-unless-home-is-the-mouth-of-a-shark/ |access-date=1 February 2017 |work=Quartz Africa}}

In April 2013, Shire was presented with Brunel University's inaugural African Poetry Prize, an award for poets who have yet to publish a full-length poetry collection. She was chosen from a shortlist of six candidates out of a total 655 entries.

In October 2013, Shire was selected from a shortlist of six as the first Young Poet Laureate for London. The honour is part of the London Legacy Development Corporation's Spoke programme, which focuses on promoting arts and culture in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the surrounding area.{{cite news|title=Warsan Shire announced as London's first young poet laureate|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24375551|access-date=30 November 2013|publisher=BBC|date=3 October 2013}}

In 2014, Shire was chosen as poet-in-residence of Queensland, Australia, liaising with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts over a six-week period.

In June 2018, Shire was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature for its "40 Under 40" initiative.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/28/royal-society-of-literature-40-under-40-fellows|title=Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=28 June 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=3 July 2018}}

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head was shortlisted for the 2022 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection and the 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize and appeared on the longlist for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize.{{Cite web |title=Warsan Shire |url=https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poet/warsan-shire/ |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=Griffin Poetry Prize |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Shaffi |first=Sarah |date=2023-03-23 |title=Dylan Thomas prize shortlist includes four debuts |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/23/dylan-thomas-prize-shortlist |access-date=2023-09-15 |issn=0261-3077}}{{cite web |date=1 July 2022 |title=In conversation with Warsan Shire |url=https://forwardartsfoundation.org/in-conversation-with-warsan-shire/ |access-date=27 November 2024 |website=Forward Arts Foundation |publisher=}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/mort-el-kurd-and-pollard-make-forward-prizes-for-poetry-shortlists|title=Mort, El-Kurd and Pollard make Forward Prizes for Poetry shortlists|first=Lauren|last=Brown|magazine=The Bookseller|date=16 June 2022|access-date=5 August 2022}}

She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, Andres Reyes-Manzo, and their two young children.{{Cite web |last=Cowood |first=Fiona |title=Superstar poet Warsan Shire on trauma-bonding, therapy and why working with Beyoncé has made her stronger |url=https://www.stylist.co.uk/books/best-new-memoirs/827059 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Stylist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Shire |first=Warsan |title=Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth |publisher=flipped eye |year=2011 |isbn=9781905233298 |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Shire |first=Warsan |title=Her Blue Body |publisher=flipped eye |year=2015 |isbn=9781905233489 |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Shire |first1=Warsan |title=Penguin Modern Poets 3: Your Family, Your Body |title-link=Penguin Modern Poets |last2=Booker |first2=Malika |last3=Olds |first3=Sharon |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2017 |isbn=9780141984025 |author-mask1=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Shire |first=Warsan |title=Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems |publisher=Random House |year=2022 |isbn=9780593134351 |author-mask=2}}

• Poems including "The Unbearable Weight of Staying", "Dear Moon", "How to Wear Your Mother's Lipstick", "Nail Technician as Palm Reader", and "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love" featured on Lemonade (2016), a visual album by Beyoncé.{{cite web |last=Garcia |first=Patricia |date=25 April 2016 |title=Warsan Shire Is the Next Beyoncé-Backed Literary Sensation |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/warsan-shire-lemonade-poet |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430013625/https://www.vogue.com/article/warsan-shire-lemonade-poet |archive-date=30 April 2020 |access-date=27 November 2024 |work=Vogue}}

• Unless the Water Is Safer than the Land

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{{Wikiquote}}

• {{Officialwebsite|https://web.archive.org/web/20150202215956/http://www.warsanshire.com/|WarsanShire.com (Wayback)}}
• [http://www.rockingchairbooks.com/warsan-shire-2/ Warsan Shire] at Rocking Chair Books Literary Agency
• Ellen E. Jones, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/26/warsan-shire-bernardine-evaristo-suoperstar-poet-beyonce "Warsan Shire talks to Bernardine Evaristo about becoming a superstar poet: 'Beyoncé sent flowers when my children were born'"], The Guardian, 26 February 2022.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shire, Warsan}}

Category:1988 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century British poets

Category:21st-century British women writers

Category:21st-century Somalian writers

Category:Black British women writers

Category:Black British writers

Category:British women poets

Category:English people of Somali descent

Category:Ethnic Somali people

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature

Category:Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom

Category:Kenyan people of Somali descent

Category:Somalian women poets