Ladan Osman

Ladan Osman is a Somali-American poet, director, and photographer born in Mogadishu, Somalia, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, United States. She earned an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin's Michener Center for Writers and has received fellowships from organizations including the Fine Arts Work Center and Cave Canem Foundation. Her poetry, which explores themes of dislocation, migration, race, gender, and colonialism, has earned awards such as the Sillerman First Book Prize for The Kitchen-Dweller's Testimony, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Exiles of Eden, and a 2021 Whiting Award.