Samiya Bashir

Samiya Bashir. Photo by EEO Fairy. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikipedia.

Samiya A. Bashir is an African-American poet.

Life

Bashir is the daughter of an African American mother and a first generation immigrant from Somalia. Her first book of poetry, Where the Apple Falls (RedBone Press), was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Gospel, "an ecumenical resistance song in four parts," is her second book of poetry and was also published by RedBone Press. Alexis Pauline Gumbs stated that Gospel "redefin[es] both sexuality and salvation with a close look at the infinite places and moments when the human body meets despair, pleasure and transcendence." Bashir is also the editor of Best Black Women's Erotica 2 (Cleis Press) and co-editor of Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art (Third World Press), with Tony Medina and Quraysh Ali Lansana.

Bashir’s poetry, stories, articles, essays and editorial work have been featured in Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Other Countries: Voices Rising, The Callaloo Journal, Reverie, Carry the Word, Essence Magazine, 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.

Bashir is a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, a writers festival for LGBT writers of African descent, and is an alumni fellow of Cave Canem. She has served as Writer in Residence at Soul Mountain Retreat, as James Cody Scholar for the James Dick Foundation for the Arts, and as Artist in Residence with The Austin Project. She has published 3 chapbook poetry collections: Teasing Crow, Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring, and American Visa.

She has served as the contributing editor of Black Issues Book Review and Curve Magazine and the book editor of Ms. Magazine. In addition, Bashir has served on the National Black Justice Coalition's board of directors.

Recognition

Bashir won the Lesbian Poetry Award from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation.

She has received awards, grants, fellowships, and residencies from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the University of California (where she served as poet laureate), the Astraea Foundation, the National League of American Pen Women, Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Soul Mountain Retreat, The Austin Project, Alma de Mujer, the James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts, and Cave Canem, among others.

She won the 2011 Aquarius Press Legacy Award, given annually in recognition of women writers of color who actively provide creative opportunities for other writers.

Publications

Poetry

• Where the Apple Falls: Poems. Washington, DC: RedBone Press, 2005.
• Gospel: Poems. Washington, DC: RedBone Press, 2009.

She is also the author of the chapbooks Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring (1999), American Visa (2001), and Teasing Crow (2006).

Edited

• Best Black Women's Erotica 2. San Francisco, CA: Cleis Press, 2002.
• Role Call: A generational anthology of social and political Black art & literature (edited with Tony Medina & Quraysh Ali Lansana). Chicago: Third World Press, 2002.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

Samiya Bashir Reads Catch BlackPoetsSpeakOut

"Ha ha ha n*gg*rs are the worst," by Samiya Bashir

"A small matter of engineering," by Samiya Bashir

• List of U.S. poets

External links

Poems

• "Stabilimentum"
• "Gospel"
• Samiya Bashir at the Poetry Foundation.

Audio / video

• Samiya Bashir at YouTube

About

• Samiya Bashir Official website.
• Interview with Samiya Bashir by Steven G. Fullwood, Vintage Entity Press , 2007. (.PDF)
• The Rumpus review of Gospel
• Review of Gospel