# Ladan Osman (Ladan Cismaan)

> Ladan Osman: Mogadishu-born poet of Exiles of Eden, winner of a 2021 Whiting Award.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/ladan-osman/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who is she?

Ladan Osman is a Somali-American poet, director and photographer born in Mogadishu and raised in Columbus, Ohio ([Wikipedia, Ladan Osman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladan_Osman)). She earned an MFA at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of [Texas](/en/diaspora/dallas-fort-worth/) at Austin (same source). See [Somalis in Columbus](/en/diaspora/columbus/).

## Poetry

Her poems deal with dislocation and migration and have appeared through the Academy of American Poets, *Literary Hub* and *Prairie Schooner*, among others ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladan_Osman); [Poetry Foundation](http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ladan-osman)). Her books are (same source):

- *Ordinary Heaven*, chapbook, 2014
- *The Kitchen-Dweller's Testimony*, 2015, winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets
- *Exiles of Eden*, winner of the 2020 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

She received a Whiting Award in April 2021 (same source).

## Film and photography

Her photographs, performances and experimental media have been shown at the Bienal de São Paulo, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the New York African Film Festival, among others ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladan_Osman)). Her documentary work has won an ECU award and a Dikalo award (same source).

## In short

A Mogadishu-born poet and artist whose books on migration have won major American poetry prizes.

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