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@Kaphrayra

Kenyan-born Somali poet Warsan Shire is the first ever winner of the Brunel University African Poetry Prize.

The Judges of the new prize which is open to African nationals and Africa-born poets who are yet to publish a full collection, were filled with praise for the 24 year-Old’s work. They described it 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.”

Warsan’s emerged as a winner of the six poets that had been shortlisted from 655 entries.

One of the judges, Dr.Kwame Dawes commented of her work, “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.”

Warsan was born in 1988; her work has been read in Kenya, South Africa, Britain, Italy, Canada, Germany and North America. Some of her work has been published and some of her works included in major publications including ‘Wasafiri’, Salt book of younger poets (Salt, 2011) among others.