Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi

Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi is a Black mother who spends time with forests and waters on land of the T’Sou-ke Nation. Her work takes root at the intersection of social change and collaboration. A poem can deliver epiphany, and her writing strives to instigate action in service to world-building. Saul Williams said, “Only through new words might new worlds be called into order,” and she is here to conjure. Her poems are both prayers and protests, and live in MAYDAY, Torch, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Elysium Review, Rise Up Review, and other portals. She is a fellow of the Pink Door Writing Retreat, the Anaphora Arts Writing Residency, and In Surreal Life. The author of two chapbooks, Moon Woman (Thoughtcrime Press) and EVERYTHING GOOD IS DYING (Deep Vellum Publishing), her first full length poetry collection is forthcoming from Deep Vellum. Her work has been uplifted by The Times Colonist and CTV News in British Columbia, and by WFAA, KERA, the Dallas Morning News, and others while she performed across Texas. For ten years, she turned strangers into friends by offering poetry on demand with her typewriter in locations as varied as art galleries, birthday celebrations, universities, festivals, and raucous sidewalks. She was the founder of Dark Moon Poetry & Arts, a monthly series that highlighted creative feminine and non-binary energies of North Texans strategically undervalued by dominant society. As a teaching artist and workshop facilitator, she’s skilled at using poetry to unlock imaginations in and out of classrooms. Travel with her at fatimaayanmalikahirsi.com or on Instagram via @fatimaayanmalika.

Region: Vancouver Island (CRD)