About
Dagmawe Berhanu is a first-generation Ethiopian American poet, community organizer, and MFA candidate on the poetry track at the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. A native of Southwest Philly, their work explores themes of grief, survival, and collective memory, shaped by years of frontline experience supporting unhoused and low-income communities around the city of Philadelphia through a trauma-informed framework. A former spoken word artist and published writer, Dagmawe’s poetry has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Hooligan Magazine, and The Tulane Review. They seek to bridge creative expression with social change through public art, pedagogy, and healing-centered engagement.They are also the proud parent of Jonathan, a vivacious and equally chaotic Black American shorthair.
