U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo

U-Meleni “Mel” Mhlaba-Adebo is a Zimbabwean-American poet, multidisciplinary artist, educator, and storyteller whose work explores memory, identity, land, belonging, and our relationship to one another and the natural world. Based in Boston and working across the United States and Africa, she brings a Pan-African and global perspective to creativity, community, and cultural exchange.

A 2025 Baldwin for the Arts Fellow and 2023 Brother Thomas Fellow, U-Meleni is the author of Soul Psalms. Her poems and essays have appeared in journals, anthologies, and community publications in the United States and beyond. Working across poetry, performance, film, and public art, she is interested in how stories can help us better understand ourselves, our histories, and the environments we share.

For more than twenty years, U-Meleni has worked with young people, educators, families, and community members and organizations, using the arts to spark conversation, reflection, and connection. She previously served on the Board of Mass Poetry, supporting opportunities for poets across the state.

On the 25th May, 2026, she collaborated on International Biodiversity Day programming with Lufasi Nature Park in Lagos, Nigeria, and served as a poetry judge for over 500 students from 15 schools whose work explored biodiversity and conservation. She is also the co-founder and co-creator of The Sinmi Bench Project, a public art initiative that grew from her poem “The Sinmi Invitation” . Sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Nigeria in partnership with Lufasi Nature Park, the project transformed a poem into a space for rest, reflection, and environmental awareness.

A mother to a teenage poet, U-Meleni is continually inspired by the imagination, curiosity, and insight of young people. She believes creativity can help us build empathy, strengthen our connection to the natural world, and imagine more hopeful futures together. When not writing poems or following creative pursuits, she is often found running marathons and talking walks often by the ocean.