2026 Treat a Stranger Grant Recipient

Samiya Bashir is a poet, librettist, performer, multimedia artist, and author of four poetry collections, including I Hope This Helps, and Field Theories (2018 Oregon Book Award and Pushcart Prize winner). Her editorial work includes the forthcoming 30th Anniversary re-issue of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People: A Revolutionary Blueprint (Haymarket, 2026). Her artwork has been published, exhibited, and performed internationally. Bashir is a sought-after creative coach and teacher with recent appointments at Columbia University and the University of Michigan. Among her many honors are the Pushcart Prize and the Rome Prize for Literature. She lives in Harlem.

Photo by Bliss Carter, 2025