Hamda Khamis

Hamda (or Hamdah) Khamis is a poet and a freelance columnist from Bahrain.

Biography

Khamis was born in Bahrain in 1945.

In 1969, she published her first collection "Shayaza" (translates into 'Shrapnel' in English), thus becoming the first woman to emerge into the Bahraini poetry scene. Many other Bahraini female poets followed after her, and helped create Bahrain's thriving literary scene.

In 2013, Hamda Khamis was invited to the 23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, where she helped display the Persian Gulf region's literary achievements with her poetry.

Works

She has published nine collections of poetry.

In 2010, Hasan Marhama (Bahraini editor) published an anthology Voices: An annotated anthology of contemporary Bahraini poetry. He includes Khamis's poem You Have Your Time, I Have Mine.

Critical reception

The Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life references Hamda Khamis and Qasim Haddad as some of the most well recognized contemporary Bahraini poets. The Encyclopedia notes that in Bahrain, "Younger poets [such as Khamis and Haddad] have developed a more Westernized style, writing non-rhyming poems on personal and political subjects.".