Emtithal Mahmoud is a Sudanese poet and activist. She is the winner of the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam championship. Born in 1992, Mahmoud has been intentional and vocal since her high school days about bringing the violence in Darfur, Sudan to a halt. The country was bemoaned with rife and political unrest at that time.
Adeptly armed with literary disposition with brilliant oratory, she was 2016 invited to recite one of our poems at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Plying her poetic gestures through the walls of the world, Mahmoud has been an advocate in many discourses of humanity: notable of which is her advocacy for the rights of sickle cell disease patients in Nepal. Also being a poetic speaker, she has spoken at conferences and talk events. In 2016, she was invited to a roundtable with former President Barack Obama, when he was on one its kind visitations.
With a resume fielding through relentless service to peace, equity, and justice, the 28-year-old Sudanese became UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in 2018. The honor will avail her of the opportunity of having access to refugee camps across the globe. Mahmoud has been decorated with laurels within and outside Africa for her immense contributions towards peace and equity without prejudice. She was in 2015 named on the BBC’s 100 Women list of “The Most Inspirational Women across the World.” She was also named on the list of the 2020 100 Most Influential Young Africans by Africa Youth Awards.
Mahmoud holds a degree in anthropology and molecular biology from Yale University.
