a curly-haired, brown woman in a white off-shoulder dress, red glasses, and dangling pearl earrings
a curly-haired, brown woman in a white off-shoulder dress, red glasses, and dangling pearl earrings

Marhaba!

Here is my professional bio:
Aiya Sakr—Ahh-ya—(she/they) is a Palestinian-American poet and artist. They are the author of Her Bones Catch the Sun (The Poet’s Haven, 2018). A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in Palette, Mizna, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She is a Winter 2023 Tin House Fellow and the founder of We the Imagined Poetry Workshop for Arab Women Poets. They have served as Poetry Editor for Sycamore Review, and as Poetry Coordinator for Unootha Magazine's Summer Writing Program. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Purdue University, where she currently teaches. She collects buttons, and is enthusiastic about birds.

This is what I look like only sometimes.
Photo by Erike Truman

a curly haired brown woman poses in front of a tree in a black and white photo.
a curly haired brown woman poses in front of a tree in a black and white photo.

This is what I look like more often, B&W and all.
Photo by Kanika Ahuja

Here are some facts not in the professional bio:

  • I believed it was "in the Nile, crocodile" well into my twenties.

  • I'm a stutterer! Especially when reading out loud and speaking in Arabic.

  • There is a difference between a birder, a bird enthusiast, and  someone enthusiastic about birds.

  •  I once went to an estate sale two hours away only because it had a million buttons. It was fine.

  • Jumping spiders have the best vision among spiders. They will chase lasers the way cats do, and they can see details on the moon!

a blue heeler dog glaring, wearing a blue vest that : not friendly, please keep away!
a blue heeler dog glaring, wearing a blue vest that : not friendly, please keep away!

Here is my dog, Indigo.
He is a jerk.

Aiya Sakr