Interview & Words: Bethany Burgoyne

Photography: Hexinrun Sally

Salma El Wardany is using poetry and public speaking to step out of society's shadows and reinvent the global female narrative. Writing about her own female sexual identity and the racial discrimination she experiences as a Muslim woman; Salma retraces her past to uplift women and provoke a sense of awareness within society. We sat down with Salma to discuss how resilience and role models have shaped the work she makes today.

Born in Egypt and raised in Newcastle by her Irish Mother, Salma moved through careers, cities and relationships to arrive in London as a poet and writer today. Having relocated to Cairo in her early twenties to partake in the Arab Spring Protests, Salma’s move coincided with a two-year relationship which spiralled into abuse, manipulation and control. “I didn’t talk for two and a half years. I look back on those times and I don’t know who that person was. It’s terrifying, it felt like I was in a coma.” The years of rebuilding her sense of confidence and self-belief went hand in hand with her collection of autobiographical work. Verses of poetry and snippets of Salma’s past translate into words often bruised by trauma, creating a language to confess some of the darkest and deepest feelings of vulnerability. “It makes no sense in my head not to be honest and share an experience, I will always present who I am truthfully. Silence has been the language of women for too long; I write for all the things I wish had been said to me growing up”.

From sporadic bursts of intuitive writing, Salma’s manuscripts go from page to stage as she unfolds her own story, memorising and performing her observations about society and personal sexual experiences, continually provoking audience members to react and challenge their way of thinking. “My job as a writer is to make you feel something. If you feel nothing but apathy then I’ve failed. If you’re backlashing at me because I’ve triggered you in some way, then my job here is done.”

Criticism from many who disagree with Salma’s honest discussion about sex and female oppression, particularly in relation to her faith, reflect the kind of societal barriers she faces when telling her story. “I get trolled every single day, but if I feared backlash, I would have stopped writing years ago. I am breaking my back doing this [so] if you’re not in the ring with me covered in blood and sweat, then I don’t care what you have to say”.

This drive and liberating attitude that Salma possesses is something she’s happy to credit her Mother for, having been home-schooled until she was 16 years old, "I had the privilege of being raised and educated by a remarkable mother. She said the schooling system teaches you to memorise, it doesn’t teach you to think. My education followed my interests, which was amazing”. Not only was Salma’s mother an impact on her intellectually, she was also “the biggest feminist I know, I was raised ready to fight.” As a young girl she remembers her mother resisting authority be it “the police or a librarian” and becoming “instrumental in the Muslim community back in Newcastle fighting to create space in the mosque for women so that on a Friday we could go to Friday prayer”. It is no surprise that Salma follows in these footsteps, championing women and working to change the opportunities and opinions that repress the female race. “I have the strongest conscious bias towards women, even when our politics are different and our opinions are miles apart, I will never pit myself against another woman, I will never compete, I will only support and promote her”.

Salma is courageously placing herself centre stage to promote a sense of self confidence in other women, but with this, comes a feeling of isolation. “It’s feeling a little lonely up here right now. I don’t want to be the only one talking about sex and being open about it, I want there to be more women by my side”. With an ever growing following, Salma expresses the need for others to take up the reigns and help drive the conversation forward. “I will never stop doing this work, however much abuse I get from it, but I need more reinforcements”. Calling for more women to join her tribe and fight the good fight.

Follow Salma on Twitter @writtenbysalma and Instagram @salmaelwardany .

Credits

• Interview & Words: Bethany Burgoyne

• Photography: Hexinrun Sally