Bayan Founas was born in Hamtramck, Michigan, raised in metro Detroit and educated at the University of Michigan. She is a poet, educator, youth mentor and activist. She's passionate about making educational reforms in communities of color and in that effort she created a creative writing and arts program called Writing for Freedom in 2016 for youth of color to creatively and collectively heal. She uses culturally relevant and transformative justice approaches in the classroom and in writing workshops for people to self-actualize and reach their full potential.
And finally, through her poetry she also shares her experiences as an American Muslim woman. She has two self-published poetry collections covering themes of home, immigration, diaspora and belonging, entitled "Diary of a Daughter in Diaspora" (2018), and "Here to Stay: A Literary Mixtape," (2021) paired with the spoken word album "Here to Stay."
https://bayanfounas.com/
