From the Directory of Writers

Samiya Bashir

Poet
Ann Arbor, MI

Samiya Bashir is the author of Gospel, and Where the Apple Falls, a Poetry Foundation bestseller and finalist for the 2005 Lambda Literary Award. Bashir is editor of Black Women’s Erotica 2 and co-editor, with Tony Medina and Quraysh Ali Lansana, of Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art. She has also published three chapbook poetry collections: Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring, American Visa and Teasing Crow. Bashir is an alumni fellow with Cave Canem and a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, a writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent. Bashir’s poetry, stories, articles, essays and editorial work have been featured in numerous publications including: Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Other Countries: Voices Rising, Callaloo, Reverie, Carry the Word, Essence, Obsidian III, CaKe #3, Cave Canem #7, Poetry for the People: A Revolutionary Blueprint, Contemporary American Women Poets, Best Lesbian Erotica 03, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Ms. Magazine, Black Issues Book Review, Curve, Vibe, Seventeen, XXL, Lambda Book Report, and The American Journal of Public Health.