A Short Biography

Suheir Hammad was born in 1973 in Jordan. Her parents were Palestinian refugees and immigrated to New York City early in her life. She grew up deep within the roots of the hip-hop culture in New York where she developed her tone and influences for her work. The passion heard in each of her poems and anthologies were developed not only as a Palestinian-Muslim minority in a big city, but also by her constant struggle with sexism. Once she was signed to HBO Def Poetry Jam by Russel Simmons her career took off. Suheir has written several poems and has even landed leading roles in a few films. Due to these amazing works of art she has since won several awards throughout America.