Somali Poet Mohamed Hashi Dhama To Give Poetry Reading At University Of Washington

Washington, January 27, 2007 (SL Times) – Somali Poet Mohamed Hashi Dhama (popularly known as Gaariye) will give a poetry reading at the UW Simpson Center for the Humanities on Saturday, February 3, 2007 in Communications Building Room 120. An internationally known poet whose poetry topics range from love to the menace of nuclear weapons to the heroism of Nelson Mandela, Dhama has worked at the Somali Academy of Culture and as a lecturer in Somali literature at the National University. His reading is co-sponsored by the African Studies Program, Comparative History of Ideas, the Comparative Literature Department, the Jackson School of International Studies, the Simpson Center for the Humanities and the University Libraries with funding provided by the Kenneth S. Allen Endowed Library Fund.

Dhama has been one of the most important Somali poets. He was not afraid to engage in the politics of Somalia through his poetry, earning him the hostility of the Siyad Barre regime. He was also the initiator of one of the largest 'chain poems', 'Deelley', to which many poets contributed. Dhama was the person who first articulated the metrical patterns of Somali poetry. He published his findings in articles in the national newspaper in 1976. He currently teaches at Hargeisa University, Somaliland.

Source: Somaliland Times

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