Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf is one of the most exciting poets in the Somali diaspora.
Although she has lived in exile in the UK for over twenty-five years, through recordings, TV and the internet her poems are well-known among Somalis both at home and abroad. A powerful woman poet in a literary tradition still largely dominated by men, she is a master of the major Somali poetic forms, including the prestigious gabay which presents compelling arguments with mesmerising feats of alliteration. The key to her international popularity is in her spirit and message: her poems are classical in construction but they are unmistakably contemporary, and they engage passionately with the themes of war and displacement, which have touched the lives of an entire generation of Somalis.
Her collection The Sea-Migrations was named the Poetry Book of the Year 2018 by The Sunday Times and was translated by Said Jama Hussein and Maxamed Xasan Alto, working with poet Clare Pollard.
Asha came to the UK in 1990 having fled the Somali Civil War. She now has three children and a steady job and a growing career as a poet.
