Farah Chamma (Arabic: فرح شمّا; born April 1948) is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

spoken-word

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

in the United Arab Emirates. Chamma speaks six languages including Arabic, English, and French. She is one of the young poets at the "Poeticians Club" which is a group of poets from the Middle East run by the Palestinian filmmaker and writer Hind Shoufani. She is the founder of Parea band which combines music with spoken-word.

Education and career

Chamma was born in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

, United Arab Emirates to a family from

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

. At the age of eighteen, Chamma moved to Brazil and lived there for four months during which she learned the Portuguese language. She obtained her bachelor's degree in philosophy and sociology at Paris-

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is a French and English-speaking university established on 7 October 2006 in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The university affiliated with the French Sorbonne University (former Paris-Sorbo ...

. She learned French in university as well as German and Spanish. In her final year at university, she moved to France. Chamma began her career at age fourteen and started performing on different stages. Since 2008, she has participated in several events and festivals, including the Sikka Art Fair, organised by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and the symposium ''A Sip of Poetry'' held in Abu Dhabi in 2012. Recently, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in its twelfth session organized the Identity Poetics session, in which Chamma was featured among other poets including award-winning Colombian-American poet Carlos Adres Gomez and UAE performance poetry star

Afra Atiq Afra Atiq (Arabic: عفراء عتيق) is an Emirati spoken word poet who was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Emirati father and a Japanese-American mother. Atiq holds a PhD in Media and Creative Industries from the United Arab Emirates ...

. Chamma then pursued a master's in performance and culture at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

. In 2013, Chamma released a YouTube video where she recited her Arabic poem ''How Must I Believe''. The video received more than 250,000 views. On 4 January 2014, she published another video performance, ''The Nationality''. In February 2019, Chamma performed in London along with

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and guitar player Maruan Betawi and percussionist Phelan Burgoyne. Chamma also has an Arabic language podcast named "Maqsouda" which is about Arabic poetry created and hosted by both Zeina Hashem Beck and Chamma.

Poetry collections

* ''Apologies'' (Original title: Al Maathera) * ''The Nationality'' (Original title: Al Gensia) * ''From right to left'' (Original title: Min Al Yamin Ela Al Shamal) * ''But We sleep Because Gravity weighs us down'' (Original title: Wla Kinana Nanam Li Ana Al Gathbia Tothqelona) * ''I not going to marry, mum'' (Original Title: Mish Rah Atjawaz Yamma) * ''The Sheesha'' (Original title: Al Sheesha) * ''Prayer'' (Original title: Doaa * What are you afraid of Mum? (Original title: Min Sho Khaifa Ya Emmi?) ) * ''Paranoia'' * ''Fairouz'' * ''Small Manifesto'' * ''Farah'' * ''pH'' * ''Dead Cats and Plastic Bags'' * ''I am No Plastenian'' * ''Boxes'' * ''The Wall'' * ''Ether'' * ''Fast Poem'' * ''On Gaspille'' * ''How Must I Believe''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamma, Farah Living people 1994 births Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Emirati people of Palestinian descent Palestinian expatriates in the United Kingdom Palestinian expatriates in France Palestinian women poets People from Sharjah Slam poets