Faysal Aw-Cabdi Axmed was born in Hargeysa in 1968. He left Somaliland after secondary school, and moved to London to attend university. He now owns a restaurant and works part-time as a TV presenter. He’s written over 200 poems and 350 songs to date.
Axmed Shiikh Jaamac, was born in Las Anood District in 1942 and completed a degree in Journalism at the National University in Mogadishu. Ahmed was an Arabic teacher at the Ministry of Education of the former Republic of Somalia. Following the collapse of Siad Barre
Jaamac Kadiye Cilmi is a traditional poet whose work addresses a range of social and political issues. He is renowned for the creation of the ‘Saar’ rhythmic poetry form. Born in Las-Anod, Jama became a prominent poet throughout the Somali region and one of the few poets who compose and perform this form of art.
Alamin Mazrui was born in 1948 in Lamu, an island off the Kenyan coast, into the famous Mazrui family. Instead of the religious careers of his father and grandfather, Mazrui chose to follow the example of his uncle, professor Ali Mazrui, and pursued an academic career. Alamin Mazrui received his primary and secondary education in […]
Noshi Gillani was born in Pakistan in 1964. Her fifth collection of poems: Ay Meeray Shureek-E-Risal-E-Jaan, Hum Tera Intezaar Kurtay Rahey (O My Beloved, I Kept Waiting for You) was published in Pakistan in 2008. The candour and frankness of her highly-charged poems is unusual for a woman writing in Urdu and she has gained […]
Clare Pollard was born in Bolton in 1978 and currently lives in South London with her husband and two children. Her first collection of poetry, The Heavy-Petting Zoo (1998) was written whilst she was still at school, and received an Eric Gregory Award. It was followed by Bedtime (2002) and Look, Clare! Look!(2005), which was […]
When Sarah Maguire was the Royal Literary Fund’s Writing Fellow at The School of Oriental and African Studies, she was struck by the number of academics and students she encountered who were fascinated by poetry and who knew a great deal about the languages and literary cultures of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. […]
Beijing-born poet Yao Feng (姚风) has lived in Macau for many years, and is currently a professor of Portuguese literature at the University of Macau. His poems have been published in many Chinese and Portuguese literary magazines, in both languages, and sometimes bilingually. He is a translator and founding editor of the magazine Chinese and […]
Born in Quelimane in 1963, Eduardo White is one of Mozambique’s leading poets. His first collection of poetry Amar Sobre o Índico was published in 1984; he has published eight further books, the most recent being As Falas do Escorpião. The poem ‘O peso da vida!’ is from his third collection País de Mim (1990). […]
Stefan Tobler is a translator from Portuguese and German and the founder of And Other Stories publishing house (andotherstories.org). In 2009 he completed a doctorate at UEA on contemporary Brazilian poetry, focusing on Antônio Moura in particular. Arc Publications publish his translations of Moura as the collection Silence River in 2012. He has recently translated […]