Warsan Shire
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems (2022) • Awards — Brunel University African Poetry Prize; Young Poet Laureate for London Warsan Shire FRSL (born 1 August 1988) is a British writer, poet, editor, and teacher who was born to Somali parents in Kenya. In 2013, she was awarded the inaugural Brunel University African Poetry Prize.
Warsan Shire
- Name
- Warsan Shire
- Born
- 1 August 1988
- Birthplace
- Kenya
- Occupation
- Poet, writer
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Honours
- Brunel University African Poetry Prize · OkayAfrica 100 Women · Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q16232420 · wikipedia · Warsan Shire
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Warsan Shire • Born — 1 August 1988 • Birthplace — Kenya • Occupation — Poet, writer • Notable Works — Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth (2011)
Documentary record
Warsan Shire appears in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek as a writer (born 1 August 1988). The birth of Warsan Shire is recorded on 1 August 1988 in Kenia.
Early life and education
Early life and education
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. She studied creative writing at London Metropolitan University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2010.
Career
Career
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. Her poems have been published in various literary publications, including The Poetry Review, Magma, and Wasafiri. Shire's poems have 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). 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. 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. Beyoncé's interest in Shire's work was sparked by Shire's piece "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love". Beyoncé again featured Shire's poetry in her 2020 musical film Black Is King. Shire published her first full-length poetry collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems, on 1 March 2022. Shire was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday by Sarah McCammon on 27 February 2022 about the book.
Personal life
Personal life
She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, Andres Reyes-Manzo, and their two young children.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1988
Warsan Shire born at Kenya.
Publications
* * * *
Poetry in film
• 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.
Influences
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. 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." 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." Shire has named writer Toni Morrison as one of her influences.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Corpos em resistência: as poéticas migrantes de Warsan Shire, Upile Chisala e Safia Elhillo, Antares: letras e humanidades, 2018
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2018
- Reescritas do silêncio em passados inextinguíveis: um estudo das configurações de lar nas poéticas migrantes de Warsan Shire, Upile Chisala e Safia Elhillo
Scholarly · Crossref registry
- The poem as meme? Pop video poetry in the digital age (Warsan Shire/Beyoncé), Word & Image, 2021
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2021
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q16232420: Warsan Shire
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Warsan Shire”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards and honours
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. 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. 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.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Warsan Shire, revision 1371738372 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Okeowo, Alexis. The Writing Life of a Young, Prolific Poet. The New Yorker. 21 October 2015.
- 2.BBC (podcast). Somali poet Warsan Shire on her African poetry award. 30 April 2013.
- 3.Bio. warsan shire.
- 4.Warsan Shire Biography. PoetrySoup.com.
- 5.Debut poetry collection to be published from celebrated alumnus. London Metropolitan University. 6 July 2021.
- 6.Warsan Shire Wins Brunel University African Poetry Prize 2013. Books LIVE. 30 April 2013.
- 7.Obi-Young, Otosirieze. 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. Brittle Paper. 2018-01-10.
- 8.New Warsan Shire Pamphlet From Spread The Word. African Poetry Book Fund. 12 November 2015.
- 9.Leaf, Aaron. Ibeyi, Laolu Senbanjo, Warsan Shire Featured in Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'. OkayAfrica. 23 April 2016.
- 10.King, Jamilah. Here's the Warsan Shire Poem That Caught Beyoncé's Attention for 'Lemonade'. Mic. 25 April 2016.
- 11.Hess, Amanda. Warsan Shire, the Woman Who Gave Poetry to Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'. The New York Times. 27 April 2016. 0362-4331.
- 12.Thompson, Rachel. Beyoncé drops breathtaking 'Black Is King' visual album with cameos from all the family. Mashable. July 31, 2020.
- 13.Okeowo, Alexis. Warsan Shire's Portraits of Somalis in Exile. The New Yorker. 7 February 2022.
- 14.McCammon, Sarah. Beyoncé collaborator Warsan Shire releases her first full collection of poetry. NPR.org. 27 February 2022.
- 15.Zakaria, Rafia. Warsan Shire: the Somali-British poet quoted by Beyoncé in Lemonade. The Guardian. 27 April 2016. 0261-3077.
- 16.Warsan Shire on a Nation of Poets. BBC Radio 4. 9 January 2023.
- 17.Kuo, Lily. 'HOME' This poem is now the rallying call for refugees: 'No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark'. Quartz Africa. 30 January 2017.
- 18.Maitland, Hayley. “In The End, I Write For Myself”: Warsan Shire’s Debut Poetry Collection Does Beyoncé Proud. British Vogue. 2022-03-16.
- 19.Shire, Warsan. Warsan Shire: ‘Toni Morrison had a tremendous impact on how I view myself as a woman’. The Guardian. 2023-03-17. 0261-3077.
- 20.BBC. Warsan Shire announced as London's first young poet laureate. 3 October 2013.
- 21.Flood, Alison. Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases. The Guardian. 28 June 2018.
- 22.Warsan Shire. Griffin Poetry Prize.
- 23.Shaffi, Sarah. Dylan Thomas prize shortlist includes four debuts. The Guardian. 2023-03-23. 0261-3077.
- 24.In conversation with Warsan Shire. Forward Arts Foundation. 1 July 2022.
- 25.Brown, Lauren. Mort, El-Kurd and Pollard make Forward Prizes for Poetry shortlists. The Bookseller. 16 June 2022.
- 26.Cowood, Fiona. Superstar poet Warsan Shire on trauma-bonding, therapy and why working with Beyoncé has made her stronger. Stylist.
- 27.Garcia, Patricia. Warsan Shire Is the Next Beyoncé-Backed Literary Sensation. Vogue. 25 April 2016.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Corpos em resistência: as poéticas migrantes de Warsan Shire, Upile Chisala e Safia Elhillo, Antares: letras e humanidades, 2018Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
The poem as meme? Pop video poetry in the digital age (Warsan Shire/Beyoncé), Word & Image, 2021Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q16232420: Warsan ShireWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Warsan Shire received Brunel University African Poetry Prize, OkayAfrica 100 Women and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Recognition and collections
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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