Rafeef Ziadah () (born 1979 in

Beirut, Lebanon Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

) is a Palestinian-Canadian poet and human rights activist who currently lives in London. She released the spoken word album, '' Hadeel.''

Biography

Ziadah was born in

to Palestinian refugee parents and began writing at a young age. She grew up in Tunisia. She attended

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. In 2004, she gave her first public performance after she was motivated by her experience of racism to write a poem. In 2009 Ziadah released her first spoken word album, '' Hadeel''. Ziadah produced ''Hadeel'' with a grant from the

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...

within their Word of Mouth program in 2008. Ziadah has traveled to countries all over the world to perform and conduct poetry workshops. In 2011, Ziadah performed with Palestinian-American poet, Remi Kanazi in London, UK as part of the tour for his book, ''Poetic Injustice''. In 2012, Ziadah was chosen to represent Palestine at the South Bank Center Poets Olympiad. In the same year, she performed at the World Village Festival in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. During the summer of 2014, Ziadah contributed an opinion piece for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

regarding the 2014 Gaza War and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. On November 14, 2014 Ziadah performed at a benefit concert for Palestine with Palestinian

Hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group,

DAM A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

-Palestine sponsored by Manchester Palestine Action. Rafeef Ziadah is well known-for her poems "Shades of Anger" and "We teach life, sir". Ziadah's poem "We teach life, sir" became the inspiration for a photography show for display inside the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

. The exhibit was titled, "We Teach Life: The Children of the Occupation."

References

Living people York University alumni 20th-century Palestinian poets Palestinian refugees Palestinian human rights activists Palestinian women activists 1979 births Lebanese people of Palestinian descent Palestinian women poets Lebanese women poets Writers from Beirut Lebanese women activists 21st-century Palestinian poets {{Asia-activist-stub