Mohammed El-Kurd is a poet, writer and journalist, born on 15 May 1998 in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. In 2009, when he was twenty-one years old, Israeli settlers occupied part of his family's house and since then, the El-Kurd family, together with dozens of neighbours in the neighbourhood, have fought against the forced and illegal removal from their homes. In 2021, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time. He is best known for his role as co-founder of the #SaveSheikhJarrah movement. His work has been featured in numerous international newspapers and he has appeared repeatedly as a commentator on major television networks. Currently, El-Kurd is the first Palestine correspondent for The Nation. Rifqa, his first collection of poems, published by Fandango Libri in 2022, was called “a masterpiece” by The New Arab and an “extraordinary debut” by the Los Angeles Review of Books. The book was one of Middle East Eye's “Best Books of 2021” and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize 2022 for “Best First Collection”. El-Kurd holds an MA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and a BA in Writing from Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Atlanta. He is Culture Editor at Mondoweiss.