Samiya Bashir

Gospel is an ecumenical resistance song in four parts. We enter at the crossroads, tripped up by trickster deity Eshu-Elegba. A chorus of crows, led by Norse god Odin’s raven messengers Hugin & Munin*, guides us into each movement. In this passionate follow-up to 2005’s Lambda Literary Award ... (more)finalist, Where the Apple Falls, Bashir’s poems challenge truth to stare down the power of fear and paralysis. In this pull-no-punches collection Bashir lays down a road map, a portable flashlight, and a shaky-legged escort to usher the way toward recovered sight and strength. 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 a fellow with Cave Canem and a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, a writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent. She is currently an Artist in Residence with The Austin Project.

Gospel is an ecumenical resistance song in four parts. We enter at the crossroads, tripped up by trickster deity Eshu-Elegba. A chorus of crows, led by Norse god Odin’s raven messengers Hugin & Munin*, guides us into each movement. In this passionate follow-up to 2005’s Lambda Literary Award ... (more)finalist, Where the Apple Falls, Bashir’s poems challenge truth to stare down the power of fear and paralysis. In this pull-no-punches collection Bashir lays down a road map, a portable flashlight, and a shaky-legged escort to usher the way toward recovered sight and strength. 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 a fellow with Cave Canem and a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, a writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent. She is currently an Artist in Residence with The Austin Project.