afrose fatima ahmed

afrose fatima ahmed is a hybrid Texan-Washingtonian who writes poems on emerald city streets and at the tops of evergreen trees. She is the daughter of Muslim immigrants from India. Her body and her art live in liminal spaces: polar US borderlands, the division between land and sea, the place where urban density drops off into rural solitude. afrose comes to poetry as just one avenue for creating experiences of beauty and communion for herself and other people. Her writing emphasizes all the senses and acknowledges a world in which humans are suffering and experiencing bliss against wild landscapes that are simultaneously living and dying. afrose is the author of four chapbooks, a 2017 Jack Straw Writer, and an alumna of Voices of Our Nations Arts, a multi-genre workshop for writers of color. afrose climbs in her spare time, in order to gain perspective.

afrose received a 2017 GAP Award to complete a tarot card project blood gold and honey. blood gold and honey is a collection of 120 short poems that are interactive; 60 cards that readers can draw and mull over and make a part of their own daily rituals. This is writing that subjects itself to multiple, varied interpretations. afrose’s intention with blood gold and honey is to create art that is interactive and invites the reader in, forming a very personal relationship with the writing.

Artist Trust thanks the Amazon Literary Partnership for underwriting this award through Artist Trust’s Corporate Partnership program. For information about supporting Washington State artists, visit here.