‘We may be a small nation, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t brimming with talent’
Hanan Issa is the new National Poet of Wales. She told Jenny White about her career to date and what the position means to her...
HANAN Issa has been appointed National Poet of Wales. The first Muslim to be appointed to the role, she will serve a three-year term, taking over from the poet Ifor ap Glyn.
Issa’s publications include her poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts and Welsh Plural: Essays On The Future of Wales.
Her winning monologue With Her Back Straight was performed at the Bush Theatre as part of the Hijabi Monologues and she was part of the writers’ room for Channel 4’s groundbreaking series We Are Lady Parts alongside its award-winning creator Nida Manzoor.
Issa is also co-founder of the Where I’m Coming From open mic series and was the recipient of the 2020 Ffilm Cymru/BBC Wales commission for her short film The Golden Apple. In addition, she was the 2021 recipient of Literature Wales’ Representing Wales Award.
Here, she discusses her career and what the new position, which will see her serving as an ambassador for Wales and its literature, means to her...
Tell us about your experience of growing up in south Wales and how it shaped your writing.
“I grew up in Penarth, which, at the time, wasn’t hugely diverse in its population demographic.
“I didn’t actually realise I wasn’t white until I was about nine years old and had my first experience of racism.
“We were very working-class but I’m conscious there is a difference between being ‘Penarth poor’ and ‘Cardiff poor’ since we lived next to woodland and a huge farmer’s field so always had spaces to go on adventures, build dens and tree swings and so on.
“Having such an intense experience of racism so young forced me to engage with my own understanding of identity and belonging and, in a more general sense, it’s a topic I’ve been fascinated by ever since.
“When we moved to Cardiff it was quite a culture shift.
“I’ve written poems about Grangetown and how wonderful it is to walk down a street and see such a mishmash of people and cultures – kids in thobes and hijabs darting around a Sikh elder swigging a can of Coke who stops to say hello to the ladies working in Brutons.
“I’m not sugarcoating, there are problems just like everywhere else, but that fluidity and intertwining of culture, in my own experience and the world at large, has informed my work the most.”
More broadly, how has your WelshIraqi background influenced your work?
“Due to my mixed-race heritage, I grew up being very comfortable around different cultures and languages – whether it was Arabic from my Iraqi family, bits of Welsh from my grandparents or the wealth of languages my parents’ friends spoke.
“This enabled me to develop a respect and curiosity for spoken languages that I don’t understand. I’m not fluent in either Welsh or Arabic, but very often words, sounds and ideas from both languages find their way into my work.”
When and why did you first start writing poetry?
“I’ve always written poetry. Albeit mostly about dragons to start with, but it’s always been a space my words have felt comfortable.
“I decided to start sharing my poetry because of David Cameron or, more accurately, because of his ridiculous comments on Muslim women! I felt so frustrated hearing him talk about how Muslim women didn’t integrate or contribute to society when it was and had always been my experience that Muslim women surrounding me were doctors, nurses, scientists, civil servants, solicitors, teachers, activists, artists – contributing to society in every way possible.
“I wrote quite an angry spoken word piece that I decided to share (I think on Facebook) and it resonated, so I kept writing and sharing my work, branching out into page poetry, monologues, essays and short stories – and here we are!”
Who has influenced or shaped you as a poet?
“So much of great literature has impacted how I write or how I see the world in general. From poets such as Audre Lorde, Terrance Hayes, RS Thomas, Gwendolyn Brookes, Mererid Hopwood, Louise Bogan, Carol Ann Duffy, Octavio Paz, to writers and activists of other forms like Toni Morrison, Nawal Saadawi, Tawakel Karman, Raymond Williams – I could go on.
“I’m interested in creatives who play with form and offer us something unexpected.”
What have been the highlights of your career as a writer so far?
“The evening I launched my debut poetry collection was such a beautiful experience. I remember feeling such an intense wave of love – it was so humbling to know my work had resonated
with others since that’s what motivated me to start sharing my work in the first place.
“I found out earlier this year that a secondary school in Cardiff has been using a poem I wrote as part of a collaboration with National Dance Company Wales in their lessons.
“The poem Ble Mae Bilaadi explores identity and belonging and emerged from conversations between me and my collaborative dance partner Aisha Namaani. The pupils wrote their own versions and, honestly, the writing was so powerful it was wonderful to see.
“Writing and directing my debut short film with FfilmCymru and BBC Wales was another highlight. The Golden Apple is the story of two Cardiff brothers who come across a magical golden apple in the park and have to decide what they will do with it.
“It was my first time directing anything and I felt like such an imposter on the first day. Then I overheard two of the crew talking about the story and they were so enthusiastic that I thought to myself that, if they believe in the project, then I have to as well!
“Making a film is a truly collaborative process and it was a wonderful opportunity to work with such talented, generous people.
“The Golden Apple is due to air on a BBC platform sometime this year and I can’t wait.
“Working in the writers’ room for
Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts was so much fun. Being a part of such an incredibly exciting project that showed the kind of funny, uplifting, badass Muslim women I know and love was an unforgettable experience.”
What projects are you working on at present?
“I’m currently promoting an essay anthology I co-edited alongside Darren Chetty, Grug Muse and Iestyn Tyne titled Welsh (Plural): Essays On The Future Of Wales. The book is an exciting patchwork of voices from across Wales sharing their experiences and understanding of what Welshness means.
“The book is special to me since I’m passionate about promoting a more nuanced and varied perception of Wales and Welshness.
“I’ve just completed a short poetry film with support from National Theatre Wales titled Tender Men which explores how men of colour perceive masculinity. I had several conversations with a group of men and their words informed the resultant poem and film that’s a mixture of footage and animation. I’m still confirming details with museums interested in showing the film, but it will also be available later this year online.”
Tell me about the Where I’m Coming From open mic series. “I founded Where I’m Coming From with Durre Shahwar, a well-known local writer and artist, after feeling there was a need to platform, specifically, writers of colour. Too often, organisers would explain away their all-white line-ups by saying there just weren’t any performers of colour available.
“Durre and I started by inviting a mixture of new and emerging writers of colour from our networks and, through word of mouth, attendance grew. We started opening up slots to writers of any demographic, but with an emphasis on those who were underrepresented in literature as well as continuing to platform more experienced writers alongside completely new and unknown names.
“It’s encouraging to see that so many of the people we platformed first are now getting published, commissioned and recognised for their work.”
What, for you, is the function or purpose of poetry?
“Poetry helps me to make sense of the world. As Gwendolyn Brookes says, it is ‘life distilled’. Ironically, considering how so many people feel they don’t understand poetry, the fact that you have to be so much more particular with word choices, sentence structure is a strength – it forces you into specifics and clarity or intentional obscurity.
“Writing poetry is often like taking a roughly-formed idea then sanding, polishing and smoothing it till it shines.”
How does it feel to be made National Poet of Wales?
“I’m still getting used to the idea. I wish I could go back and tell the awkward, fluffy-haired 12-year-old me that this would happen – she would never believe it!”
What does this position mean to you and what do you plan to achieve in the role?
“Poetry is such an important part of Welsh heritage so it means a lot that the folks at Literature Wales feel I’m capable of fulfilling this role.
“My main aim is to encourage more people to see themselves as poets or lovers of poetry by raising awareness of the different types of poetry available. Very often, people’s only experience of poetry is in school where they were introduced to maybe one or two poets writing about war or daffodils. There’s so much more out there, there really is something for everyone.
“I want the rest of the world to see the wealth of talent we have here in Wales.
“We may be a small nation that often gets overshadowed by our bigger neighbours, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t just as brimming with creativity and talent.”