Warsan Shire – författare

What elevates 'teaching my mother how to give birth', what gives the poems their disturbing brilliance, is Warsan Shire's ability to give simple, beautiful eloquence to the veiled world where sensuality lives in the dominant narrative of Islam; reclaiming the more nuanced truths of earlier times - as in Tayeb Salih's work - and translating to the realm of lyric the work of the likes of Nawal El Saadawi. As Rumi said, "Love will find its way through all languages on its own"; in 'teaching my mother how to give birth', Warsan's debut pamphlet, we witness the unearthing of a poet who finds her way through all preconceptions to strike the heart directly. Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer who is based in London. Born in 1988, she is an artist and activist who uses her work to document narratives of journey and trauma. Warsan has read her work internationally, including recent readings in South Africa, Italy and Germany, and her poetry has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

The latest volume in Penguin Modern Poets series - moving and unflinchingly honest poems from three different cultures about experiences of the female body, the family, sexual politics and conflictYour Family, Your Body features the work of Malika Booker, the Guyanese-British writer and performer behind London- and Chicago-based collective Malika's Kitchen; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sharon Olds, one of America's most brilliant, beloved and candid voices; and Warsan Shire, the award-winning poet and first ever Young Poetry Laureate of London who also lent her words to Beyoncé's visual album Lemonade.Inspired by Penguin's enormously successful '60s series of the same name, the Penguin Modern Poets are succinct, collectible, lovingly-assembled guides to the richness and diversity of contemporary poetry, from the UK, America and beyond. Every volume brings together representative selections from the work of three poets now writing, allowing the seasoned poetry fan and the curious reader alike to encounter our most exciting new voices.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 FELIX DENNIS PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION*** AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4**'Warsan Shire is an extraordinarily gifted poet whose profoundly moving poems so powerfully give voice to the unspoken' Bernardine Evaristo'Vital, moving and courageous, this is a debut not to be missed' Guardian__________Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma and resilience from the award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire, celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé's Lemonade and Black Is King.With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a girl who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own stumbling way toward womanhood. Drawing from her own life and the lives of loved ones, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black women and teenage girls. These are noisy lives, full of music and weeping and surahs. These are fragrant lives, full of blood and perfume and jasmine. These are polychrome lives, full of moonlight and turmeric and kohl.The long-awaited collection from one of our most exciting contemporary poets is a blessing, an incantatory celebration of survival. Each reader will come away changed.'Warsan Shire electrifies... The beautifully crafted poems in this collection are fiercely tender gifts' Roxane Gay'Absolutely beautiful... So relevant' Elizabeth Day, *Day's Delights*

'The mouthmark Book of Poetry' is an anthology of the individual-author titles published under the mouthmark poetry pamphlet series, comprising the work of Nick Makoha, Inua Ellams, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Jessica Horn, Truth Thomas, Denise Saul, Malika Booker, Janett Plummer and Warsan Shire. The series was conceived by flipped eye publishing's senior editor, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, as a means to get poets from non-mainstream backgrounds - including performance - into print. It was revolutionary for two reasons; first, it was a pamphlet series developed with a specific aim (later, tall-lighthouse would launch its pilot series, and, much later, Faber would launch its New Poets Initiative); second, it was a finite series - to end after ten pamphlets. After some success with the first two pamphlets in the series, Nick Makoha's 'The Lost Collection of an Invisible Man' (2005) and Inua Ellams' '13 Fairy Negro Tales' (2005), the Arts Council of England provided funding for the next four. It took six years for the series to be completed, but its impact far exceeded expectations.Authors such as Inua Ellams, Jacob Sam-La Rose (later editor of the last pamphlet in the series), Nick Makoha and Warsan Shire, have risen to international prominence; three of the pamphlets were cited by the Poetry Book Society pamphlet selectors for their quality; five of the poets have since been chosen for the ground-breaking national Complete Works development programme for UK poets of minority ethnic backgrounds; and Truth Thomas's from his pamphlet 'Party of Black' (2006) was chosen for Nikki Giovanni's 'The 100 Best African American Poems' (Sourcebooks, 2010). Crucially, the series retailed admirably as well, with over 10,000 copies sold at events - and through conventional retail channels. Now, with the release of 'The mouthmark Book of Poetry', readers can experience all nine individual poets published under the mouthmark poetry pamphlet series in this collectible volume that retains hallmarks of the iconic series, such as the distinctive brown paper-look cover with bold black designs.

Die somalisch-britische Autorin Warsan Shire ist eine Legende. Ihre Texte für Beyoncé machten sie zum Star. Ihre Gedichte fanden weltweit Millionen von Leser*innen. Mit ihren Versen machten Artikel der »New York Times« auf.  Die Gedichte in »Haus Feuer Körper« sind eine der großen Überraschungen der Gegenwart: Sensibel und kompromisslos erkunden sie atmosphärisch dicht die Abgründe unserer Welt. Sie erzählen von Vertreibung, Gewalt und Diskriminierung. Der eigene Körper wird zum Instrument einer sinnlichen, poetisch direkten Sprache, die ruft und schreit und der Leser*in ins Ohr flüstert. Um einen Ausweg zu finden, zeichnet sie auf ihre Haut Landkarten. Doch Vorsicht: wo Licht ist, lauert Feuer …Zweisprachige Ausgabe und mit einem Nachwort von Sharon Dodua Otoo»Gedichte so unmittelbar, so eindringlich, als säße eine Schwester neben mir.«Sharon Dodua Otoo

I Välsigna dottern möter vi en ung flicka som i frånvaron av vägledning och omsorg finner sin egen väg in i vuxenvärlden. Med inspiration hämtat från sitt eget liv, såväl som från populärkulturen och nyhetsrubrikerna gestaltar Warsan Shire med levande och unik stil erfarenheter av flykt och förfrämlingande, av mental ohälsa och utsatthet, av moderskap och ungdom. I hennes händer blir livet på ett underligt sätt fulländat. Våldet, ensamheten och hemlängtan till trots. Det är en vibrerande värld full av musik, gråt, bön och sång. Ett polykromt liv av henna, månljus, läppstift och kohl. Välsigna dottern samlar dikter skrivna under de senaste tio åren. Ett årtionde under vilket Warsan Shire blivit en av de mest eftersökta poeterna i världen. Hon har bidragit med dikter till Beyoncé Knowles-Carters två visuella album Lemonade och Black Is King samt skrivit kortfilmen Brave Girl Rising.