Poetry Bridges: Visiting Writers Hanan Issa: Bridging Cultures
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Telford Suspension Bridge, English Literature and Creative Writing (School of Arts, Culture and Language) present a series of guest writer events to celebrate poetry as a means of bridging: connecting ideas, places and people. These are free, public events open to all, supported by the generosity of alumni through the Bangor Fund and by Literature Wales.
A Welsh-Iraqi poet, filmmaker, scriptwriter, and artist, Hanan Issa is the current National Poet of Wales, the first Muslim to hold the title. She champions the ancient Welsh poetic form cynghanedd and aims to broaden engagement with poetry. Her work explores themes of identity, belonging, and nature. A versatile artist, she wrote and directed The Golden Apple (2022) and contributed to Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts. Her writing also features in notable anthologies, including Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales and Just So You Know: Essays of Experience, which she co-edited. She was awarded an honorary degree from Bangor University in 2025.