Born and raised in Rome to an Italian mother and an Egyptian father, Amir Issaa is an internationally renowned hip-hop artist as well as a social activist and an educator who regularly holds rap writing workshops in schools, prisons, and colleges across the world.
In 2017, Amir published his first book Vivo per questo (This is what I live for), a personal and artistic autobiography that illustrates the challenges and dreams of the so called “second generation” in Italy. His second book, Educazione Rap (Rap Education, 2021) looks at rap as a poetic linguistic exercise as well as a shared experience across borders.
This fall Amir is back in the US to present This is what I live for: An Afro-Italian Hip Hop Memoir,” a bilingual edition of his first book published by SDSU Press:
– Monday, October 30: presentation at USD
– Tuesday, October 31: presentation at SDSU
– Thursday, November 2: presentation at UCSD
– Saturday, November 4: presentation at MoPA in Balboa Park