Bio

Bahraini writer and poet based in the UK. One of three inaugural Manchester Multilingual City Poets, 2022. Member of Young Identity and mentored by Commonword. BBC Words First 2020 semi-finalist. New Writing North Arabic Translation mentee, 2021.

Creative Producer and Editor of Between Two Islands project and anthology, funded by Arts Council England (2021). Guest Editor of ArabLit Quarterly: FOLK (2021).

I’m passionate about Bahraini history, the Baharna experience, human rights and decolonising education. This website showcases work I’ve put out over the years – please note, I’ve done more work under campaigning organisations, particularly around education and human rights. If you’d like to see more of my work, please just get in touch.

BA Journalism at the University of Winchester. MA Near & Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Published Poems
– Al-Usra wal-Sufra: Family and Feasts (Arabic, English) commissioned for Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, July 2022
– In Prisms of Knowledge, commissioned for the Manchester Festival of Libraries, June 2022
– ‘في نور بيت الحكمة‘ commission for the Manchester Festival of Libraries, June 2022
– Comes the sea… in Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, Issue 7, December 2021
– Two Poems in Harana Issue 9, 2021: Invitations were sent, but no one came | The male line
– Prophecy and Prayers, in Bahr Issue 1, 2021
– RAQABIYYA, Or Neck Tax, in Ecosystems of Fury – The Scalpel and the Sledgehammers – Myth Restoration (Anthology), Young Identity, 2021
– Adrift Along the Moonbeam, in Between Two Islands, 2021
– The Milled-Up Years, in Zindabad Issue 1, 2021
– The Invention of Rational Economic Man, in Consilience Issue 3, 2020
– Translation: “The Desire of Life”, in Modern Poetry in Translation 3/2020
– After The Last Edition, in Peterloo Poems by Manchester People, 2019
– More translations and poems published informally on Instagram

Translations
– ‘The Desire of Fish‘ – a Bahrani satire of The Desire of Life, in ArabLit Quarterly: THE JOKE (Summer 2022)
– Are You the Moon Itself? by Ghazi Al-Haddad, March 2022
– ArabLit Quarterly: FOLK (Winter 2021) — guest edited. Credits include translation of Mariam Qahtani’s Heavensent Huriyya (prose), and translations/essay Have You Seen Afifa, Have You Seen Latifa?, and the translation of one folk poem in two versions, Waddle Like A Duck.
– The Desire of Life by Abu Al-Qassim Al-Shabbi in Modern Poetry in Translation, 3/2020

Poetry Productions, Performances and Events
– Debate Between the Apple and Pear, Longsight Arts Festival, November 2022
– In the Footsteps of my Forebears, Cabaret for Freedom, October 2022
– In Prisms of Knowledge, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, June 2022
– ArabLit Quarterly: FOLK LAUNCH, January 2022
– Between Two Islands: Live at Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, October 2021
– The Future: A Between Two Islands Soundscape, October 2021
– Zoom Room // Inane Room, October 2021
– Knowing the Self: Diaspora and Identity through Arabic Poetry, with Huda Fakhraddine and the Manchester Poetry Library), September 2021
– Between Two Islands Launch, March 2021
– The Stories We Thread, Manchester City of Literature and Manchester Poetry Library, World Poetry Day 2021
– Resistance Is My Mother Tongue, with Young Identity, International Mother Language Day 2021

Significant Projects
– Pear Project – workshops with Longsight community; debate poem commissioned; translation and associated art commissioned.
– Al-Usra wal-Sufra – workshops with Arab children in the North West and doll house display for exhibitions. A Liverpool Arab Arts Festival / Manchester City of Literature-funded project. The doll house with the poetry was displayed first in LAAF 2022, then in the Manchester Central Library in March-May 2023.
– Between Two Islands – Six workshops with the Bahraini community in Britain, culminating in an anthology and two events. Co-produced with Amina Atiq. An Arts Council England-funded project.

Other Works
– Through Our Eyes KS4 Anthology Teacher Pack, Harper Collins, 2022 – Contributing Author
– Who We Are KS3 Anthology Teacher Pack: 25 brilliant texts to enrich your KS3 English curriculum, Harper Collins, 2021 – Contributing Author
– Your Choice The Complete PSHE Programme for KS5: Relationships, Sex and Health Education, Harper Collins, 2022 – Contributed lesson on racism and orientalism

Articles
– Multilingual inclusion in a UK secondary school: translating poetry at Creative Writing Club, WorldKidLit (2023)
– Interview: Mariam Qahtani on the Slow Process of Building in ‘Of Love and Isolation’, in ArabLit (2022)
– Between Two Islands: How British Bahrainis Found A Home In Poetry, in Middle East Eye (2021)
– Remembering Ghazi Al-Haddad, in ArabLit (2021)

Contact
email: alialjamripoetry@gmail.com
twitter: @ali_mn_aljamri
instagram: @alialjamri_scribbles
linktr.ee/alialjamri