Warsan Shire’s debut pamphlet, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, was published in 2011. She won the inaugural Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2013 and in 2014 was appointed the first Young People’s Laureate for London. She was also selected as Poet in Residence for Queensland, Australia, where she collaborated with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts. In 2015 she released a limited-edition pamphlet, Her Blue Body, and in 2016 created the film adaptation and poetry for Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade. In 2017 she was included in the Penguin Modern Poets series.
Fellows are nominated by peers and elected by our Council of writers – our governing Board. Being elected a Fellow of the RSL is a lifetime honour. This role gives them the opportunity to support other writers, readers and the future of literature. The RSL connects writers in the Fellowship to one another, and to a wider readership.
