Taher Adel is a British-Bahraini poet, novelist, and spoken word artist. He holds an MA in creative writing and poetry from the University of East Anglia and a BEng in Biomedical Engineering from City University London. He judges the Stephen Spender Poetry Prize and has served as poet in residence for Wells-next-the-Sea (2019) and creative practitioner at the University of Bedfordshire (2024).

His works include “I Don’t Know What Language I Dream In” (Burning Eye Books, 2023), “The Names” (Rewayat Reads, Arabic translation), and “The Chosen Names” and “The Divine Names” (Sun Behind The Cloud). His debut novel (TBC) won the Taner Baybars Award for original fiction. His short story “So long as the olive tree lives” was longlisted for the Azhar Writing Prize.

His writing and performances have appeared in Ambit, SMOKE Magazine, The New European, BBC Radio 4, TEDx, Poetry London, and Poetry Salzburg Review.

Visit Taher’s website.

Current as of August 2025