Sanam Sheriff

She’s a poet and she knows it! Meet this week’s Campus Celebrity, Sanam Sheriff, an award winning poet attending Bryn Mawr College. She began writing poetry at a very young age, but says she didn’t start writing the “good stuff” until she was 13. Sheriff had something to say and felt that poetry gave her the voice to do just that. For her, writing poetry was very therapeutic and as a way to “tell” herself what she was going through, in order to make it more manageable. 

With only five or six “good” poems, Sheriff created a Tumblr blog that would unknowingly touch the hearts of many people. Countless readers reached out to her, praising her work and sharing how her words saved them from the dark places they were in and inspired them to write their own poems.

Sheriff really admires the poet and activist Andrea Gibson (preferred pronouns: they/them). They were such an inspiration to her that she even “mimicked” their work and used it to mold her own early poetry until she found her voice. She loves the impact Andrea has made with their work. They have a very wide spectrum of amazing and moving poetry, ranging from topics of war and gay rights to mental illness and love. She wanted her poetry to have the same impact on others.

During her freshman year at Bryn Mawr College, Sheriff read her poetry to an audience for the first time at a college open mic event, Voices for Palestine, with a poem about the Black Lives Matter movement. She loved the experience of personally sharing her work with others and wanted to find more outlets to continue to do so. Sheriff became the first Slam Champion of Bryn Mawr College’s only spoken word club, Spokes, established last year. She also competed in the Academy of American Poets competition at Bryn Mawr College, her first poetry submission competition ever, and won!!!

Over the summer, Sheriff traveled to L.A. to compete in a poetry slam at Da Poetry Lounge. She competed in front of hundreds and went home with the first place award! After the competition, random strangers came up to Sheriff, asking for hugs and to take pictures with her, because her poems had really touched them. A therapist praised her work and asked if she could share her poetry with her patients because she felt Sheriff put words to messages the therapist was unable to get across to her patients. “Having them not only say my work was good, but that it had real meaning to them really meant a lot to me,” she said.

Sanam’s favorite self-written poem is about body image. Her favorite lines are “how could you believe less of you somehow meant more” and “please read the next sentence with care, you don’t have to disappear to prove you were there.” Both have such a powerful, deep, and raw message. It is no wonder why so many people have been moved by her work.

For budding poets, Sheriff has a piece of “hand-me-down” advice that inspired her writing: “Write what you are afraid of…write to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

When she isn’t writing, Sheriff enjoys playing as the guard/forward for the Bryn Mawr Owls basketball team, being around people, reading, and, every college student’s favorite pastime, sleeping. She also loves dogs and describes her ideal day as finding a dog to give a good scratch behind the ears and receive a loving slobbery kiss in return. 

On October 23, 2015, Bryn Mawr College with be hosting a College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) qualifier where five students will be selected to represent Bryn Mawr College and attend the national poetry competition to compete against hundreds of thousands of other students. Be at the Rhoads Old Dining Hall at 8:00 pm to cheer on this week’s Campus Celeb, Sanam Sheriff! And follow her “poetic” adventures on Instagram!