Samiya Bashir is the author of Where the Apple Falls: poems, editor of Best Black Women's Erotica 2 and co-editor of Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art. Her poetry, stories, articles, essays and editorial work have been featured in numerous publications including: Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Poetry For The People: A Revolutionary Blueprint, Contemporary American Women Poets, Best Lesbian Erotica, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Ms. Magazine, Black Issues Book Review, Curve, Vibe, Lambda Book Report, The American Journal of Public Health. Samiya is currently Communications Director for Freedom to Marry. Previously, she served as Communications Director for The Balm in Gilead, Inc., and for the past six years Samiya has headed her own communications and editorial consulting firm, serving clients such as the Avery Institute for Social Change, the Harm Reduction Coalition, Columbia University, the Women's Sports Foundation, and the American Public Health Association among others. Samiya is a founding organizer of Fire & Ink: A Writers Festival for GLBT People of African Descent as well as a fellow of Cave Canem: African American Poetry Workshop/Retreat. Bashir has won numerous awards for her poetry including the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund Poetry Award. Her work has been reprinted internationally and she has read her poetry to audiences across the U.S. and in Europe.

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