Hanan Issa, a Welsh-Iraqi poet, film-maker and artist, has been named the fifth national poet of Wales.
As national poet Issa, who is due to serve a three-year term, will represent the diverse cultures and languages of Wales and act as an ambassador for the people of Wales.
Issa’s collection My Body Can House Two Hearts was published in 2019. She also contributed to Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales and The Mab, a retelling of the Mabinogi stories for children, both published this year.
She co-founded the Cardiff open-mic night Where I’m Coming From, worked in the writers’ room for Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts and was a member of the first cohort of writers who took part in Literature Wales’s Representing Wales programme in 2021.
Issa, who is from Cardiff, said being the first Muslim in the role was an “incredibly positive step” and that it was “exciting to think that Wales is taking the lead on this aspect of representation”.
Muslim women often “get squashed into very narrow perceptions”, she said. She hoped that women “from all different demographics” will see her and think: “That’s a thing that’s achievable for me.”
Issa is of mixed heritage, and said that “sitting with one foot on either shore of different heritages really does make you have a greater, deeper understanding of different views, different ways of living and different languages”. She grew up surrounded by people speaking different languages, including Arabic from her Iraqi family and Welsh from her grandparents.
“I’ve always been comfortable being in a space where I don’t fully understand what other people are saying,” she said. “In the UK we have several minoritised languages as well as languages that are spoken by second and third generation people, and I think it’s a really important step forward for us to start seeing ourselves as a multilingual, multicultural nation.”
Over her term, Issa aims to introduce more people to the ancient Welsh poetic form of cynghanedd, as well as encourage “more people to engage with and appreciate poetry”. She also wants to “add to conversations around identity and belonging, particularly when talking about nature spaces”.
Hanan takes over the role from Ifor ap Glyn, who called her a “thoughtful and engaged poet” who would bring “a fresh voice to the national conversation”.
Issa was chosen as national poet after a public call for nominations and an extensive selection process. On behalf of the selection panel, Ashok Ahir president of the court and chair of the board of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, said that Issa had a “cross-community voice that speaks to every part of the country”.
He added that she “will be a great ambassador for a culturally diverse and outward-looking nation”.
