Safia Elhillo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Safia Elhillo
صافية الحلو |
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Elhillo by Caits Meissner for Jellyfish Treasury
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| Born | December 16, 1990 Rockville, Maryland, United States
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| Education | New York University (BA) The New School (MFA) |
| Occupation | Poet |
Safia Elhillo (Arabic: صافية الحلو) is a talented Sudanese-American poet. She was born on December 16, 1990. Safia is well-known for her amazing written and spoken poems.
She studied at New York University and later earned a special degree in poetry from The New School. Safia has shared her poetry all over the world. She has won many important awards for her work. She has even performed with famous poets like Sonia Sanchez. Safia has also taught poetry workshops to other writers.
Contents
Early Life and Background
Safia Elhillo was born in Rockville, Maryland. Her parents were from Sudan. She grew up following the Muslim faith.
Her Journey as a Poet
Safia's poems have been published in many well-known magazines. These include Poetry and Callaloo. Her work has also appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-day series.
Her poems are also part of several important collections of poetry. These include The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Her work also appears in Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. Another collection is New Daughters of Africa.
Safia has shared her poetry on many big stages. She has performed at TEDxNewYork and for Under Armour’s Unlike Any campaign. She has also performed at the South African State Theatre and the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway. Her work was also featured on TV1's Verses & Flow.
Awards and Recognitions
Safia Elhillo has received many honors for her poetry. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She also won the 2015 Brunel University African Poetry Prize. In 2016, she won the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
She has also received special support and opportunities from groups like Cave Canem. Her book, The January Children, won a 2018 Arab American Book Award. This made her the first Sudanese-American writer to win this award for poetry. In 2018, Forbes Africa magazine also named her one of their "30 Under 30" creative people. She also received a special fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2018.
From 2019 to 2021, she was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. In 2025, her book Bright Red Fruit was recognized as an honor book for the Michael L. Printz Award.
Her Published Works
Safia Elhillo has written several collections of poems.
Full-length Poetry Books
- The January Children (published in 2017).
- Home Is Not A Country (published in 2021).
- Girls That Never Die: Poems (published in 2022).
- Bright Red Fruit (published in 2024).
Smaller Poetry Collections (Chapbooks)
- ars poetica (2016)
- a suite for ol' dirty (2016)
- Asmarani (2016)
- The Life and Times of Susie Knuckles (2012)
Main Ideas in Her Poetry
In her book The January Children, Safia explores what it means to belong. She also writes about identity, especially for people who move to new countries. In "Bright Red Fruit", she writes about how complicated identity can be. She also explores the strong desire for love. She uses both poems and stories to share these ideas.
See also
In Spanish: Safia Elhillo para niños
