Hafsah Bashir
Hafsah Aneela Bashir is an award-winning poet, playwright and producer, originally from East London and forged in Manchester. She is the Founder and Co-Director of Outside The Frame Arts, an arts collective committed to championing voices outside the mainstream, challenging traditional gatekeepers of knowledge and creating greater representation within the arts.
The recipient of the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship in 2019, Hafsah has been an Associate Artist with Oldham Coliseum Theatre and a Supported Artist at the Royal Exchange Theatre, and is currently an Associate Artist with The Poetry Exchange. Her socially engaged practice places community, culture and lived experience at its heart.
Her debut poetry collection, The Celox and the Clot, was published by Burning Eye Books in 2018 with her play Cuts of the Cloth commissioned for PUSH Festival in 2019. She was also one of ten authors selected for New Writing North’s Read Regional campaign in 2020.
Her work has been presented and commissioned by organisations including Manchester International Festival, Ballet Black, HOME Manchester, Manchester Literature Festival, ANU Productions, the Imperial War Museum and the National Festival of Making, in collaboration with Luke Jerram. Recent work includes writing the libretto for The Bridge Between Breaths, a FormidAbility and Tête-à-Tête Festival commission exploring Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade; Heart of Pendle, an In-Situ Artist in Residence project exploring stories of place and identity within the landscape of Pendle Hill; and her autobiographical one-woman show Four Dholis and a Divorce, commissioned for PUSH Festival 2025 exploring community joy, the rituals of marriage and the stigma of divorce and mental health.
Alongside her writing and performance practice, Hafsah has curated exhibitions including Beyond the Fire: Remembering Oxford Mills (2025), exploring migration, place and textiles. She was also commissioned by the National Forest in Burton upon Trent for Earth Narrative, a project connecting women, faith and nature.
Hafsah is the Founder and Creative Director of the innovative Poetry Health Service, a free digital initiative offering poetry as a tool for connection, reflection and healing, with contributions from more than 80 poets. She has also served as a Board Trustee for Manchester City of Literature and worked as Community Producer for the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race and Education Trust, supporting community groups to document, preserve and celebrate their culture and heritage.
Across her work, Hafsah is committed to creating spaces where underrepresented voices can be heard, stories can be preserved and communities can see themselves reflected in the cultural landscape. She is currently working on her second poetry collection, Handbook For Women That Leave ( Aug 2027 ).
