Sheniz Janmohamed is a poet, spoken word artist and freelance writer. She holds an Honours BA (with Distinction) in Religion and English Literature from the University of Toronto. She has just completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Guelph. Her thesis is a collection of literary essays that explore her triune identity as a Canadian with ancestry in India and Kenya. Her thesis advisor is national bestselling author, Janice Kulyk Keefer.
She's completed the first draft of a one (two?) act play under the mentorship of Dora Award winning playwright, David Young.
Sheniz has also had the pleasure of having her writing workshopped under Governor General award winning poet Dionne Brand and GG nominee Thomas King.
She has finished a manuscript of ghazals in English under the mentorship of Professor Kuldip Gill (UBC). Two of her ghazals have been put to music and sung by talented singer and classical musician, Tanya Jacobs.
She's also a journalist- and has interviewed an incredible group of artists, including: Richie Mehta (director of the award winning film, Amal), Mohsin Hamid (Booker Prize Nominee, Author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Anosh Irani (author of The Cripple and His Talismans, Dora Award-winning playwright) and Seema Biswas (Actress, Bandit Queen, Khamoshi), Purva Bedi (American Desi), R&B sensation Deesha, The Bilz & Kashif, Vishal & Shekhar,Jungli, desi rocker jsin, musical maestro Nitin Sawhney and the list continues.
She is also the founder and president of Ignite Poets, an initiative that allows young poets and spoken word artists to collaborate and work together for worthy causes. Ignite's second show, Ignite II: Unite (2004), raised funds for The World Partnership Walk. In addition to having her own spoken word initiative, Sheniz is also a promotions officer for Toronto Poets (www.torontopoets.com).
Sheniz has shared the stage with Canadian idol hopeful Devika Mathur, world class saxophonist Sundar Viswanathan and "The Tabla Guy", Gurpreet Chana. She has performed her spoken word at various events, the largest being The World Partnership Walk, in front of an audience of 5,000 people. She has been featured at spoken word events all over the city including Strong Words Reading Series, Toronto Poets' Saturday Night Love, Cryptic Chatter and underground sounds.
Sheniz is currently collaborating with a number of electronica/dub artists in the UK and abroad, including Mahisha, State of Bengal and the Mosienko Project. Watch this space and witness how quickly words can spread.
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