Mandy Shunnarah
Mandy Shunnarah (they/them) is an Alabama-born Appalachian and Palestinian-American writer who calls Columbus, Ohio, home. Their essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and others. They are the winner of the Porter House Review 2024 Editor’s Prize in Poetry and are supported by the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. Their first book, Midwest Shreds: Skating Through America’s Heartland, was released in July 2024 from Belt Publishing, and their second book, a poetry collection titled We Had Mansions, is forthcoming from Diode Editions in 2025. Read more at mandyshunnarah.com.
Portrait courtesy of Kateri Ang and Gabe Rosenberg
Books
We Had Mansions
Publication Date:
Spring 2025
In the documentary poetry tradition of Naomi Shihab Nye and Philip Metres, queer Palestinian and Appalachian American poet and journalist Mandy Shunnarah explores the interrelated issues of Palestinians’ relationship to the land, religious trauma from growing up Orthodox Christian among evangelicals in Alabama’s Bible Belt, their family’s immigration to this country, how Palestinians are portrayed in Western media, and, of course, the genocide.
Incorporating archival research and history into their poems, We Had Mansions doesn’t let the truth get in the way of artful, resonant poetry that speaks to the alternating waves of hope and frustration that so many Palestinians in diaspora feel. This debut collection from a sharp, incisive new voice is not to be missed.
Publication Date:
