Rahim Fazal

Somali-Canadian poet and activist who uses art to empower refugee communities

Rahim Fazal is a Canadian poet, playwright, and activist born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1984. Forced to flee during the Somali Civil War at age five, he spent his early years in a Kenyan refugee camp before resettling in Canada. His work bridges the refugee experience with contemporary art forms, creating impactful narratives that challenge societal stereotypes. Fazal's 2018 play Home toured globally, using multimedia storytelling to explore displacement and belonging. He co-founded Refugees Welcome, an arts collective that empowers newcomers through creative expression. In 2019, he launched the Migrant Voices Project, a digital archive preserving stories of migration. His poetry collection The White Bone (2015) became a key text in refugee literature, featured in university curricula across North America. Fazal's TED Talk 'The Refugee Narrative' (2020) has over 2 million views, reshaping public discourse on migration. He currently advises the UNHCR on arts-based advocacy strategies, proving creativity can drive social change.