# Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (2022) by Warsan Shire: poems

> Warsan Shire's poetry collection Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (2022): its poems and themes, its prizes and reviews, and its author's earlier work.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/books/bless-the-daughter-shire/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The book

**Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head** is the first full-length collection by **[Warsan Shire](/en/people/warsan-shire/)**, a poet born in Kenya in 1988 to Somali parents, who moved to Britain as a baby ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsan_Shire)). It was published by Random House in New York on 1 March 2022, as a 96-page paperback, and in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus ([Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780593134351); [PN Review](https://www.pnreview.co.uk/archive/on-warsan-shire/11384)).

Before it, Shire had published two shorter pamphlets: *Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth* (2011) and *Her Blue Body* (2015) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsan_Shire)).

## What it contains

The collection opens with the poem "Extreme Girlhood". Other poems include "Lullaby for Father", "My Father, the Astronaut", "Home", "Assimilation", "Bless This House", "Hooyo Isn't Home", "The Abubakr Girls Are Different", "Bless the Qumayo" and "Hooyo Full of Grace" ([PRISM international](https://prismmagazine.ca/2022/07/07/ill-rewrite-this-whole-life-a-review-of-warsan-shires-bless-the-daughter-raised-by-a-voice-in-her-head/)).

Reviewers describe its main subjects as:

- **Girlhood and shame.** Poems about shame passed between fathers, daughters and girls, and about sexual violence.
- **Mothers and daughters.** A relationship shown as layered with both understanding and anger; the Somali word *hooyo* (mother) recurs through the book.
- **Migration and home.** Poems about refugees and immigrants, home as a dangerous place, and phone calls to family abroad.
- **Mental health and survival.** Trauma, illness and the ways people endure ([PRISM international](https://prismmagazine.ca/2022/07/07/ill-rewrite-this-whole-life-a-review-of-warsan-shires-bless-the-daughter-raised-by-a-voice-in-her-head/)).

Shire's earlier poem "Home", with the lines "no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark", has been widely quoted by refugees and their supporters ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsan_Shire)). [Somalis in Britain](/en/diaspora/united-kingdom/) are covered on [Somalis in London](/en/diaspora/london/).

## How it was received

- The collection was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection in 2022 and the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2023, and longlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2023 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsan_Shire)).
- Stella Cali, in PRISM international, called it "brilliantly crafted and fiercely vital" and "a stunning debut" ([PRISM international](https://prismmagazine.ca/2022/07/07/ill-rewrite-this-whole-life-a-review-of-warsan-shires-bless-the-daughter-raised-by-a-voice-in-her-head/)).
- BookPage described it as a reclamation of female identity ([BookPage](https://bookpage.com/?p=155695)).

## About the poet

In 2013 Shire won the first Brunel University African Poetry Prize and became the first Young Poet Laureate for London. Her poetry was used in Beyoncé's visual albums *Lemonade* (2016) and *Black Is King* (2020), and in 2018 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsan_Shire)).

## Where to read it

- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Bless+the+Daughter+Raised+by+a+Voice+in+Her+Head)

## Related pages

- [Warsan Shire](/en/people/warsan-shire/)
- [Somali poetry](/en/society/somali-poetry/)
- [Somali authors and their books](/en/society/somali-authors-and-their-books/)

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