Maureen Onwunali is a Dublin-born Nigerian poet and a two-time national slam champion living in Milton Keynes. Often writing from a place of political urgency, Onwunali utilises poetry as a means for creative intervention, bridging sharp sociopolitical commentary with the small everyday acts of compassion that bring us back to our shared humanity. With work spanning across multiple disciplines, her experimental collaborations consistently obscure the boundaries of what poetry can look like. During the 2025 Roundhouse Studio Theatre season, she debuted her solo show, “The Space Between,” a multi-sensory performance that incorporated projected visuals alongside a seven-piece musical ensemble. She continues to perform on stages across the UK and beyond, with poems that have amassed several million views online. Notable features and commissions include the Hay Festival, Ledbury Festival, Pearson, Roundhouse, TG4, The Poetry Society, The Irish Embassy, Transport for London, 1000 Black Interns, Milton Keynes International Festival, Obsidian Foundation, and WOW – Women of the World.

Away from the stage, she is a workshop facilitator visiting schools across the country on a mission to reform what she considers poetry’s “bad rep” within the curriculum. Most recently, her poems have been studied internationally in classrooms from Delhi to San Francisco, encouraging students everywhere to not only celebrate their own stories but also to use poetry as the building blocks of their radical imaginations.