Shirley Campbell Barr (Costa Rica, 1965). She has published five books of poetry and has dozens of poems and articles in magazines, anthologies and newspapers in various countries. Her works have been translated into English, French and Portuguese. She is an anthropologist with studies in African Feminism and an expert in International Cooperation. She has lived in Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, USA, and Brazil; currently she lives in Panama. She has been an actress, teacher, consultant in human rights and gender. She is a permanent activist for human rights and actively participates in the Afro-descendant movement in Latin America. Her work has been disseminated through black organizations, women’s organizations and afro-feminist organizations. She regularly participates as an expert on afro issues and as a black feminist in international conferences, poetry readings, book fairs and afro and women’s mobilizations throughout the Latin American region. Her poetic work has been incorporated into teaching materials, radio novels, plays, songs, folklore performances, among other. Shirley has received various awards. In 2018 she was honored on International Women’s Day by the organization POIESIS and other entities in her native Costa Rica, for her contributions and activism. In 2017, she was honored by the Afro-Latino Festival in New York for her contributions to literature and the Afro-descendant people. Her poem “Categorically Black”, which gives its name to two of her books, is already emblematic of several black women’s organizations and is recognized as an anthem by the black women’s movement in the region.
