Saba Hamzah (Arabic: سبأ حمزة; born 1986) is a Yemeni poet and scholar. She has written two poetry collections. She is a co-founder of the Yemeni Women's Archive and a researcher for the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures. She left Yemen as part of the diaspora in 2016, eventually settling in the Netherlands where she earned a master's degree from Utrecht University in gender studies. She previously earned a degree at the University of Science and Technology in Sanaa.

Early life, education and diaspora

Saba Hamzah was born in Sanaa, Yemen, in 1986. She earned a BEd in English language and literature at the University of Science and Technology in 2008.[1] She taught English and edited a magazine. She wrote the poetry collection Virgin Hymns, which was published in 2012 by Dar Alkotob AlYamania.[2] It was the bestselling Yemeni book at the 2013 Riyadh International Book Fair.[3]

Hamzah left Yemen with her three children in 2016 as part of the Yemeni diaspora. They first went to Egypt, then Türkiye, before arriving in the Netherlands in 2018.[4] She stayed in a Dutch refugee centre and by her third month had passed the integration language exams. She attended Utrecht University and earned her MA in gender studies in 2020.[1] The Rosanna Fund for Women Fellowship of Utrecht University gave Hamzah an honourable mention in 2020.[5]

Writing and research

Hamzah is a researcher with the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures. She has contributed to research into cognitive and structural violence with the University of Helsinki. She joined with the gender studies department of Radboud University Nijmegen to contribute research on violence against people with special needs to a Dutch publication about healthy societies. Among her research papers is "Peacebuilding and Women's Integration".[1] She has written for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Fanack, and the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies.[6] She has been a fellow scholar with Vassar College since 2022.

Hamzah published the poetry collection Our Shared Sky in 2021. The same year, her Dutch poetry was nominated for the El Hizjra Prize for Literature. She contributed to the poetry compilation Touches of Memory: Texts for Yemeni Voices, which was published in German in 2021.[1] Hamzah is also a photographer and since 2015, she has worked on Landless: Our Shared Heaven a photo-poetry collection.[7] She contributed a filmpoem, Soliloquy to Floating Doom, to the 2021 Liverpool Arab Arts Festival.[8]

In early 2022, Hamzah founded the Yemeni Women Archive with Yemeni artist Jihad Jarallah. The initiative seeks to document women's experiences in Yemen and as part of the diaspora. The initiative's Mural of Shes project, for Yemeni women writers, received support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[4] She is a 2023 writer-in-residence for the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa.[9]

Personal life

Hamzah has three children, one of whom has special needs.[1]

Literary works

Poetry collections

  • Virgin Hymns (تراتيل عذراء; 2012)
  • Our Shared Sky (حصتنا من السماء; 2021)

Contributions

  • Touches of Memory: Texts for Yemeni Voices (2021)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Halawa, Ahmed (26 March 2022). "Yemeni Poet and Scholar Saba Hamzah Builds a New Life in the Netherlands". Al-Fanar Media. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  2. ↑ AlNaggar, Esra’ (6 June 2019). "Yemeni Aspiring Authors". The Elixir. Archived from the original on 9 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "Writing to Process a War". Utrecht University. 5 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 EL-Tohamy, Amr (26 November 2022). "Yemeni Women Archive Documents Histories of Yemeni Women at Home and Abroad". Al-Fanar Media. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  5. ↑ "Rosanna Fund for Women Grants 2022" (in Dutch). Utrecht University. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "Reclaiming Inclusive Peace: Scaling the Poetics of Conflict". Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies. 30 August 2022. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "Crisis as an Opportunity for Transformative Change". London School of Economics and Political Science. 2021. Archived from the original on 9 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  8. ↑ Welsh, Jack (15 November 2021). "Saba Hamzah: Soliloquy to Floating Doom". Liverpool Arab Arts Festival. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  9. ↑ "2023 Fall Residents". The International Writing Program. University of Iowa. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
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