Visiting poet Mahtem Shiferraw reads from her work.
Mahtem Shiferraw is a writer and visual artist from Ethiopia and Eritrea. She is the author of three full-length poetry collections; FUCHSIA (University of Nebraska Press, 2016) which won the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets; YOUR BODY IS WAR (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) and NOMENCLATURES OF INVISIBILITY (BOA Editions Ltd., 2023). She is also the author of the chapbook collection BEHIND WALLS & GLASS (Finishing Line Press, 2015). She has served as an editor, curator or advisor for different literary journals including Atlas and Alice, The Bleeding Lion, The Hunger Mountain, and more. She is the founder and executive director of ANAPHORA ARTS, a nonprofit organization that advocates for writers and artists of color. She has served as a jury member for different literary prizes and artist residencies, including the Neudstat International Prize for Literature, the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, the Lucy Munro Brooker Prize, and more. As of 2020, she also serves on the Editorial Board of World Literature Today, where she curated the Black Voices Series (2020, 2021) and the New African Voices portfolio.