banah el ghadbanah Non-Member New

poet, writer, independent scholar

banah el ghadbanah's debut poetry collection La Syrena, Visions of a Syrian Mermaid from Space won the Diverse Voices Prize from Dzanc Books; the Independent Book Review named it one of the best books of 2023. banah is also the author of Ululating from the Underground: Syrian Women’s Protests under Siege, SUNY Press (2026), a culmination of fifteen years of research on Syrian women’s creativity during war. Banah was a finalist in the Feminist Wire Poetry Contest, a finalist for the Hub City Deep Line Poetry Series, a finalist for the Cream City Review Fiction Prize, and won the American Islamic Congress’ “Dream Deferred” Essay Contest on Civil Rights in the Middle East. They are anthologized in the Hajar Book of Rage, dream of the river, Passage & Place: An Anthology on Home, and published in over forty journals and magazines including in Mizna, the Women's Review of Books, Poetry Northwest, the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and more. banah holds a PhD in Ethnic Studies.