Somali Poet, Warsan Shire, Wins Inaugural Brunel University African Poetry Prize

Warsan Shire is a 24- year- old Somali poet and writer, based in London. Born in 1988 in Kenya, she has read her work in Britain, South Africa, Italy, Germany, Canada, North America and Kenya.

Her poetry pamphlet, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, was published in 2011 by flipped eye. Her poems have appeared in Wasafiri, Magma and Poetry Review and in the Salt Book of Younger Poets (Salt, 2011). They have been translated into Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

The judges praised Warsan’s poetry for its combination of substance, urgency, power  and drama. Her work was described as, “…beautifully crafted, subtle and understated in its use of language and metaphor yet still able to evoke a strong sense of mood and place that touches the reader.”
The Brunel University African Poetry Prize is a major new prize aimed at the development and celebration of poetry from Africa. It was founded by poet and novelist Bernardine Evaristo, who teaches Creative Writing at Brunel.

Describing her reasons for creating this new prize, she said: “I have judged several prizes in the past few years, including chairing the Caine Prize for African Fiction in 2012, an award that has revitalized the fortunes of fiction from Africa since its inception in 1999.

“It became clear to me that poetry from the continent could also do with a prize to draw attention to it and to encourage a new generation of poets who might one day become an international presence. African poets are rarely published in Britain. I hope this prize will introduce exciting new poets to Britain’s poetry editors.”

The prize is open to poets who were born in Africa, who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African, but who have not yet published a full-length poetry collection.
In this first year, entrants were required to submit ten poems. Organisers received 655 entries which were reduced to a shortlist of six. The other shortlisted poets were Peter Akinlabi (Nigeria); Viola Allo (Cameroon); Lena Bezawork Grunland (Ethiopia); Kayo Chingonyi (Zambia) and Chielozona Eze (Nigeria).

The 2013 judges were Sharmilla Beezmohun, Dr Kwame Dawes, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Dr Mpalive Msiska and Bernardine Evaristo (Chair).

Dr Kwame Dawes said: “With very few exceptions, Warsan’s poems reflect a remarkable instinct or freshness of language and insightful ideas. It is especially exciting to read a poet who manages to combine a commitment to substance and urgent subject material with the craft to turn it into illuminating and moving poetry. This was actually easy for me. Not so much because the rest were not strong, but because her work is of such quality and power.”

In collaboration with the African Poetry Book Fund, the Brunel University African Poetry Prize intends to develop a series poetry workshops and courses in Africa in its efforts to provide technical support for poets writing in Africa.

For further information on the prize contact Bernardine.Evaristo@brunel.ac.uk.
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Judges’ Comments on Warsan’s Poetry

Sharmilla BeezmohunWarsan’s work is beautifully crafted, subtle and understated in its use of language and metaphor yet still able to evoke a strong sense of mood and place that touches the reader.

Dr Kwame DawesWith very few exceptions, her poems reflect a remarkable instinct or freshness of language and insightful ideas. It is especially exciting to read a poet who manages to combine a commitment to substance and urgent subject material with the craft to turn it into illuminating and moving poetry. This was actually easy for me. Not so much because the rest were not strong, but because her work is of such quality and power.

Karen McCarthy WoolfWarsan Shire is my selection too. Her work combines great power and energy with delicacy and surprise. She embraces difficult subject matter, both personal and political, and doesn’t waver in her commitment. The poems are intimate yet universal, the emotion authentically felt and intelligently expressed. There is a beauty in their directness.

Dr Mpalive MsiskaI was especially taken by the contrast between a surface simplicity and a deeper mastery of technique, most particularly, irony, suspense and a sense of drama. Each poem is like a stage full of a variety of characters and the stories they tell each other end in surprising and dramatic fashion. The personas of the poems speak as individuals, but also as members of communities, even when those communities are in crisis. My favourite is the poem, ‘What we have.’ So, perhaps, there is here an interesting appropriation of orality.

Bernardine EvaristoWarsan’s poetry is imbued with loss, longing, loneliness, indeed a complex negotiation of emotions. It is entirely her own voice – unflinching and sometimes shocking yet also exquisitely beautifully, stunningly imaginative, imagistic, memorable; always deeply felt and eminently re-readable. She challenges us to consider and reconsider the lives of women usually spoken about but not heard from. Hers is a name to watch.