Mandy Shunnarah

Mandy Shunnarah (they/them) is an Alabama-born, Palestinian-American writer who now calls Columbus, Ohio, home. Their essays, poetry, short stories, and book reviews have been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Entropy Magazine, The Normal School, Mizna, The Citron Review, Post-Apocalyptic Media, The Wild Hunt, Barely South Review, Heavy Feather Review, The Missing Slate, PANK Magazine, Deep South Magazine, Southern Women’s Review, The Dandelion Review, Talking Writing, Lifelines Magazine, The Columbus Anthology from Belt Publishing, and the alumni magazines at The University of Alabama and Kenyon College. They have received two Best of the Net nominations for their creative nonfiction and a Pushcart Prize nomination for their fiction, as well as having placed in short story contests.

Mandy’s first book, Midwest Shreds: Skaters and Skateparks in Middle America, is forthcoming from Belt Publishing. They are currently working on a collection of poems about their Palestinian family, as well as a novel. 

Mandy has been writing professionally for the past decade, which includes freelance pieces for Reckon South, YourTango, Business Insider, them.us, Science for the People, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, 68 to 05, The Humanist, The Buckeye Flame, Left Voice, Arts Midwest, Time Out, The Institute for Palestine Studies, The Public, Bi.org, The Huffington Post, Green Queen Magazine, Vinyl Me Please, and more. They started out doing freelance journalism for The North Jefferson News, Weld for Birmingham, and Birmingham magazine and continue to support local journalism by freelancing for their neighborhood paper, The Clintonville Spotlight, as well as Columbus Monthly. 

Mandy has spoken on dozens of stages doing storytelling events across Ohio, Alabama, and Kentucky, to crowds of 10 to 250, and is a regular at Story Club Columbus. They’ve recorded a radio segment for Dirty Spoon. They’re the co-creator of the Kill the Gatekeeper zine. They also run the book blog Off the Beaten Shelf and the vintage shop Posh&Page. Learn more at offthebeatenshelf.com and mandyshunnarah.com.

Upcoming Events

June 2023 - Text Me When You're Home - art exhibit featuring Palestinian artists from and/or living in Ohio

Columbus Arts Festival 2023 - Word Is Art stage