Sara Mansour
Sara Mansour is a Sydney-based lawyer,[1] writer, poet, and founder/artistic director of the Bankstown Poetry Slam.[2][3] The Bankstown Poetry Slam is the largest regular Poetry Slam in Australia[4] which offers an artistic outlet for the often-marginalised youth of Western Sydney to share their voice in a safe and inclusive environment.[5][2][6]
Education[]
Mansour graduated with a degree in Commercial Law at Western Sydney University.[3][2]
Career[]
Mansour co-founded Bankstown Poetry Slam in 2013 with fellow poet Ahmad Al Rady.[6] Bankstown Poetry Slam holds monthly workshops and Poetry Slam performance evenings which often have more than 300 guests in attendance.[3][6] Notable poets such as the late Candy Royalle, Rupi Kaur, and Omar Musa have performed at Bankstown Poetry Slam.[7][8][9] In 2018, Mansour's team was required to hire security guards for their monthly event after Australian politician Mark Latham incited online racial abuse and death threats towards the Slam-goers.[5]
In 2018, Mansour was one of the nine founding board members of NOW Australia, a not-for-profit national organisation that sought to provide assistance to victims of sexual harassment, intimidation, or abuse in the workplace.[2] NOW Australia was initially led by veteran Australian journalist Tracey Spicer AM and was dissolved in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]
In 2019, Mansour co-wrote an episode of Halal Gurls, a six-episode Australian comedy-drama on ABC TV.[11] Halal Gurls is about a group of Muslim women, their careers, and their personal lives in Western Sydney.[12] The show was nominated for an AACTA Award in 2020.[13]
Honours and recognition[]
- 2017 Canterbury-Bankstown Australia Day Award for Young Citizen of the Year[3]
References[]
- ^ "From over-surveillance to being called 'terrorists', here's what Australian Muslims faced after 9/11". ABC News. 2021-09-11. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ a b c d Coade, Melissa (2018-04-04). "Young lawyer leads movement to end workplace sexual harassment". www.lawyersweekly.com.au. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ a b c d "Australia Day award winners named". Daily Telegraph. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ "Why poetry is a powerful way to shed light on injustices | dailylife.com.au". www.dailylife.com.au. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ a b "Poetry slam hires security after Mark Latham calls it 'Islamic political ranting'". the Guardian. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ a b c "Why poetry is a powerful way to shed light on injustices". Daily Life. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ "'A fierce bright light': poet and activist Candy Royalle dies, aged 37". the Guardian. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ Pitt, Helen (2019-11-01). "Thought poetry was dead? The 'Instapoets' raking it in online would beg to differ". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ "Omar Musa: Genocide is the basis for racism in Australia". the Guardian. 2017-11-29. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ "NOW Australia has closed down". The Industry Observer. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ "Trailer Drops For 'World's First Hijabi Comedy' Halal Gurls". HuffPost. 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ "ABC iView to premiere world's first hijabi comedy series, Halal Gurls". Mumbrella. 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
- ^ Rugendyke, Louise (2021-05-26). "The 'hired help' steal the show in SBS's riotous heist comedy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
External links[]
- Living people
- Western Sydney University alumni
- Lawyers from Sydney
- Australian television writers
- Australian Muslims