Walidah Imarisha

Walidah Imarisha is a writer, organizer, educator, and spoken word artist. Author of the poetry book Scars/Stars (Drapetomedia Press), her nonfiction exploration of crime, prisons, and redemption will be published by AK Press and the IAS in 2016. She was also one of the editors of Another World Is Possible (Subway Press), the first 9/11 anthology. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip Hop, Letters from Young Activists, Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution, The Quotable Rebel, Life During Wartime: Resisting Counterinsurgency, Joe Strummer: Punk Rock Warlord, and Near Kin: A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler. One of the cofounders and first editor of political hip-hop publication AWOL Magazine, Walidah also helped found the Human Rights Coalition, a Pennsylvania organization led by prisoners' families and former prisoners. Walidah directed the 2005 Katrina documentary Finding Common Ground in New Orleans. She has taught in Portland State University's Black Studies Department and Oregon State University's Women Gender Sexuality Studies Department.

Author photo by The Laura Flanders Show - Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown & Mumia Abu-Jamal: Decolonizing the Mind, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78297409