POETRY | Shailja Patel

Described as "the poetic equivalent of Arundhati Roy" (The Gulf Today), Kenyan artist-activist, Shailja Patel performs in venues ranging from New York's Lincoln Centre to Durban's Poetry Africa Festival.

Her one-woman show, "Migritude I: When Saris Speak" received a prolonged standing ovation at the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi
 
Patel opened and closed the first World Authors and Literary Translators Conference (WALTIC) in Stockholm, 2008, with her performances.

Patel also works with Kenyans for Peace, Truth and Justice (KPTJ), to empower grassroots Kenyan activists with strategic tools, and connect them to global resources.

 
CNN describes Patel as an artist "who exemplifies globalization as a people-centered phenomenon of migration and exchange."

Awards include the Fanny-Ann Eddy Poetry Award from IRN-Africa, the Voices of Our Nations Poetry Award, the Outwrite Poetry Prize of the New York Lesbian and Gay Centre. In 2009, Patel will be writer-in-residence at the Nordic Africa Institute (Sweden) and the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa).