Manal Younus
Manal Younus is freelance storyteller from Eritrea based on Kaurna Country. She
believes that language and stories are the very fabric of our existence and uses her
writing and performance, to explore different aspects of life from perseverance, identity,
travel and truth. The young artist also facilitates writing, performance, public speaking,
youth empowerment and intercultural awareness workshops in schools, community
groups and professional environments to encourage others to develop their own voices.
Since making the Australian Poetry Slam National Finals in 2013, Manal no longer
competes in slams but has gone on to perform around the country and the world
including at the Jaipur Literary Festival and Georgetown Literary festival. In 2015, she
released her first book of poetry called ‘ Reap’ and launched it with a national tour with
official launches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth and feature performances in
Queensland and parts of New South Wales.
As the founder and director of monthly Open Mic night Soul Lounge, Manal was
responsible for programming, budgeting and sustaining a culturally inclusive art space
that fostered development of local Artists in Adelaide. Since passing the project on to a
new leadership, she has continued to lend her expertise on creating culturally inclusive
spaces and events to to various organisation.
Manal frequently collaborates with Act Now Theatre to write and produce educational
theatre pieces for schools. This includes the award winning play, Responding to Racism
which has toured South Australia for 7 consecutive years and is set to tour across
schools nationally in the coming year. She l is currently developing a new play with Act
Now Theatre called ‘Bilal’.
Manal has represented Australia at the Jaipur Literary Festival and the Georgetown
Literary Festival, she has been featured on ABC's QandA, presented at the Adelaide
TEDx Conference in 2016, the National Multicultural Women's Conference of 2016, the
Adelaide Festival of Ideas and Open State Festival, the Halogen Foundation's Young
Leaders Convention, The Council for International Schools Conference 2017 and
James Cook University's Young Language Ambassadors Conference of 2018 and much
more.