Listen: Family, Ethiopian Roots Inspire Seattle Youth Poet Laureate’s New Book

KNKX

Seattle’s Youth Poet Laureate has just published her first book of poetry. “Motherland” is Bitaniya Giday’s exploration of Blackness, womanhood and family history as an Ethiopian-American youth.

You might be familiar with Giday from her appearance in KNKX’s Take the Mic youth voices series, and she was part of our virtual town hall event. She was also featured in this interview with Seattle Arts & Lectures.

Giday, who is finishing her one-year term as youth poet laureate, spoke with KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick about her new book and what inspires her work. Listen to the interview and hear Giday read one of her poems.

Read more and listen to the audio at knkx.org ยป

Related:

Seattle Arts & Lectures names Bitaniya Giday as the next Youth Poet Laureate

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