Suheir Hammad: Difference between revisions

'''Suheir Hammad''' (born October 25, 1973) is an American poet, author, performer, and political activist. She was born in [[Amman]], [[Jordan]]. Her parents were [[Palestinian refugees]] who immigrated along with their daughter to [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]] when she was five years old. Her parents later moved to [[Staten Island]].<ref>[http://poetryforthepeople.org/feb-22-suheir-hammad/ Poetry for the People – brief Bio] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820171847/http://poetryforthepeople.org/feb-22-suheir-hammad/ |date=August 20, 2006 }}</ref>▼

As an adolescent growing up in Brooklyn, Hammad was heavily influenced by Brooklyn's vibrant [[hip-hop]] scene. She had also absorbed the stories from her parents and grandparents of life in their hometown of [[Lod|Lydda]], before the [[1948 Palestinian exodus]], and of the suffering they endured afterward, first in the [[Gaza Strip]] and then in [[Jordan]]. From these disparate influences Hammad was able to weave into her work a common narrative of dispossession, not only in her capacity as an immigrant, a Palestinian and a [[Muslim]], but as a woman struggling against society's inherent [[sexism]] and as a poet in her own right.▼

When hip-hop entrepreneur [[Russell Simmons]] came across her piece entitled "First Writing Since", a poem describing her reaction to the [[September 11 attacks]], he signed her to a deal with [[HBO]]'s [[Def Poetry Jam]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://electronicintifada.net/content/out-ashes-drops-meaning-poetic-success-suheir-hammad/4173|title=Out of the Ashes, Drops of Meaning: The Poetic Success of Suheir Hammad|last=Hopinson|first=Natalie|date=13 October 2002|work=The Washington Post|access-date=29 April 2017|archive-url=|archive-date=|url-status=}}</ref> She recited original works on tour for the following two years. In 2008, she was cast in her first fiction role in cinema, the Palestinian film ''[[Salt of this Sea]]'' (2008) by [[Annemarie Jacir]], which premiered as an official selection in the [[Un Certain Regard]] competition of the [[Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/69-editions/retrospective/2008/actualites/articles/un-certain-regard-salt-of-this-sea-by-annemarie-jacir|title=Un Certain Regard: "Salt of This Sea" by Annemarie Jacir|date=2008-05-16|work=Festival de Cannes 2016|access-date=2017-04-29|language=en}}</ref> She is now working on her third publication which will be a book of prose.▼

She took part in the [[Bush Theatre]]'s 2011 project ''[[Sixty Six Books]]'', for which she wrote a piece based upon the [[Book of Haggai]] in the [[King James Bible]].<ref>https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/sixty-six-books/</ref>▼