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Emtithal Mahmoud

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Emtithal Mahmoud
Born
Darfur, Sudan
Alma materYale University
AwardsIndividual World Poetry Slam championship (2015)

Emtithal "Emi" Mahmoud is a poet and activist who won the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam championship.[1]

Early life

Mahmoud was born in Darfur, Sudan, and moved with her family to Yemen when she was a toddler, then to the United States in 1998.[2] When she was seven she returned to Sudan where her parents took part in a protest after the government stopped paying teachers. She says that she learnt then of the value of education.[3] Mahmoud attended Julia R. Masterman High School in Philadelphia and won Leonore Annenberg's scholarship, a prize covering all costs for four years at any college in the United States.[4]

Poetry

Mahmoud first encountered spoken word poetry as an undergraduate at Yale University. She joined ¡Oyé!, a spoken-word group affiliated with the Latino Cultural Center on campus, then the Yale Slam Team.[5]

Mahmoud's 2015 winning poem was called Mama.[6] The piece was a tribute to Mahmoud's mother, who was unable to be in the audience that day; she was in Sudan attending the funeral of Mahmoud's grandmother who had died on the first day of the competition.[7]

Activism

Since high school, Mahmoud has also been an activist advocating for attention to the continuing violence in Darfur.[8] She was on the BBC's 100 Women[9] list of "the most inspirational women across the world in 2015,"[10] and she was invited to a 2016 roundtable with President Obama when he visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore.[11] In 2017, Mahmoud took part in the How to do good speaker tour,[12] performing poetry and discussing her advocacy work in Oslo, Stockholm, The Hague,[13] Brussels,[14] Paris, London and New York. Since 2014, Mahmoud has also been advocating for the rights of sickle cell disease patients in Nepal.[15]

References

  1. ^ Hardman, Ray (October 28, 2015). "Yale Student Wins International Poetry Slam Competition". WNPR News. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  2. ^ Flood, Alison (4 November 2015). "Darfur poet triumphs in international poetry slam". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Emtithal Mahmoud and the poetry of resilience". Public Radio International. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  4. ^ Clark, Vernon (May 2, 2011). "Philly high school standout, a child of Darfur, wins prestigious scholarship". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  5. ^ Evans, Dayna (30 October 2015). "Today's Inspiration Comes From This Young Sudanese-American Slam Poet". The Cut (New York Magazine). Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  6. ^ Castellanos-Monfil, Román (October 26, 2015). "Yale senior wins the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship". Yale News. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Writer wins World Poetry Slam with moving tribute to her mother". CBC Radio As It Happens. November 6, 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  8. ^ Sharp, Jeb (30 October 2015). "Emtithal Mahmoud and the poetry of resilience". PRI's The World. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  9. ^ "Slam poet's piece for BBC 100 Women". BBC News. December 2, 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  10. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2015: From all corners of the world". BBC News. November 18, 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  11. ^ Khan, Saliqa (February 4, 2016). "President Barack Obama visits mosque in Baltimore County". WBAL. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  12. ^ www.howtodogood.global
  13. ^ https://www.dedikkeblauwe.nl/news/how-to-do-good
  14. ^ https://www.dedikkeblauwe.nl/news/poezie-empathie
  15. ^ http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Life-%20with-sickle-cell,1460
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