Warsan Shire Comes To Visit!

London’s Young Poet Laureate and winner of last year’s Brunel University African Poetry prize came back to Brunel to talk about her poems, inspirations and what she likes to watch on Netflix.

The event was part of the Brunel Author Series, a programme of free talks hosted by Bernardine Evaristo, award-winning author of Blonde Roots & Mr Loverman. It was held on the 2nd floor of the library on Wednesday 26th February.

I was delighted to sit in the room with around 30 people and listen to her thought-provoking poem ‘Girls’ which talks about FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). The room was filled with creative writing students and aspiring poets as they all listened silently: “If your mother survived it, you can survive it, the father says. Cut, cut, cut..”

The Kenyan-born Somali poet Warsan Shire came to the UK when she was only 8 months. She sat with us for more than an hour answering questions and also talked about what inspired the name of her recent pamphlet ‘Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth‘.

“It’s based on a Somali saying,” she said. “The saying means ‘young people who are so arrogant that they think they can teach their parent how to be a parent’. I like how it can be interpreted into different meanings which is interesting.”

She went on to say: “My mother was giving birth at the time I was writing some of the poems. A lot of the poems are about relationships between mother & daughter.”

Warsan’s mother was only 18 when she gave birth to her and said it was a difficult time for her mother. “Having a child at a young age teaches you how to move away from being a girl into a woman,” she said.

There were some funny moments when a student randomly asked her what she likes to watch on Netflix: “Right now, I am on season 1 of House of Cards, but I’m doing a lot of work at the moment so I’m not watching as much Netflix as I usually do.

“I could watch a whole season in a day. But you have to balance it with the rest of your life obviously, like you need to shower,” she said laughing.

What I admired the most about seeing Warsan Shire was the fact that she was a very funny and open character. I loved how she captured the entire room when she read her poems but was also very laid-back when it came to other things like watching Netflix all day.

“I love watching horror and foreign movies. The more depressing it is, the better,” she said.

And she’s probably the only writer who actually says they go to the cinema to write: “I go there in the afternoon and just sit in the back row, watch a film and write. I feel like it activates something in my head that I usually cant get to. I don’t know. It just works like that.”

It’s interesting that she had her own way of doing things and finding ways that can inspire her to write. And I know that those students who were also there could feel some sort of inspiration from that. Normally writers say they find inspiration in a coffee shop or locked up in their rooms with music playing. It’s very rare to hear a writer say they go to the cinema to write their poems.

“It took me a while to find out how I can start writing,” Warsan said. “Every time I felt excited or overwhelmed about something, I used to think “Where do I put all my thoughts?” and end up writing it down on my phone.

“I have friends who are also writers and they have their own rituals too. I know someone who takes a nap before writing. You have to feed the creativity. All the time. So even though going to the cinema 3/4 times a week is expensive, it is my way of doing it.”

As a Somali myself, I am so proud of Warsan Shire and how her poems have captured the hearts of many women, especially from Somalia, when she talks about sensitive issues that many can relate to. Her poems are challenging, thought-provoking, powerful and most importantly, she isnt afraid to write about things people may not like to read or hear. She is fearless.