Warsan Shire: youthful poet laureate wields her pen against FGM

Warsan Shire won the 2013 Brunel prize for African poetry and is portion of a new wave of British Somali writers and activists. Photograph: Vimeo

Warsan Shire, London’s initial young poet laureate, has written a poem backing the campaign calling on the training secretary, Michael Gove, to write to all headteachers telling them to inform teachers and mother and father about the hazards of female genital mutilation.

Shire, viewed as one particular of the outstanding poets of her generation, is supporting the campaign led by 17-yr-outdated Bristol schoolgirl Fahma Mohamed, and backed by the Guardian and FGM campaigners.

She believes awareness wants to be raised to guarantee that the practice is eradicated. More than 207,000 have signed the petition.

Shire is the daughter of Somali dad and mom who moved to London to escape the war in their home nation.

She is portion of a new wave of British Somali writers and activists.

“I compose a lot of poetry portraits that are based mostly on the girls in my family members and the ladies close to me since it’s so important to reclaim that voice and inform these stories and that it be genuine and trustworthy,” she told the Guardian.

“But a whole lot of those ladies have had people experiences [of FGM]. In every poem regardless of whether its about a adore poem or about war, or reconciling with your physique [FGM] is always in the background since it is a fact of existence”.

One particular of her earlier poems, The Things We Misplaced in the Summer was inspired by the experiences of people she knew who were to be minimize when they had been on the cusp of puberty.

Her new poem, Ladies, was written solely for Fahma’s campaign and is read by Warsan on theguardian.com on Monday. The poet hopes that it gives voice to how FGM is viewed from different perspectives.

The 2013 winner of the Brunel Prize for African Poetry, Shire’s operate has been described by a single of the judges as reflecting ‘a remarkable instinct or freshness of language and insightful concepts. It is specifically thrilling to read a poet who manages to mix a dedication to substance and urgent topic materials with the craft to flip it into illuminating and moving poetry.’

Shire’s debut anthology, ‘Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth’, published in 2011 is presently Amazon’s No one ideal seller for African American poetry despite Warsan currently being British. Her work has also been translated into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish and Estonian and she has recited in South Africa, Germany, Canada, America and Kenya.

The aim of the Finish FGM campaign which was commenced two weeks in the past by Fahma Mohamed is to have the details about FGM taught in all United kingdom colleges. Gove has agreed to meet Fahma at the finish of this month.

Warsan Shire: youthful poet laureate wields her pen against FGM