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Amir Rabiyah

Amir Rabiyah is a trans and two-spirit disabled queer femme poet, who also is known to be a writer coach. Their work have been part of many journals, magazines and anthologies. Not only so, they have been awarded prizes at various poetry contests throughout United States. Their first poetry collection, Prayers for my 17th Chromosome, makes them one of the finalists in the Atlanta Review’s International Poetry Competition in 2013.

In their writing, Rabiyah concentrates on the topics such as ceaseless suffering, spirituality, healing, trauma, and redemption.

Biography

Amir Rabiyah was born in London, England. Their mother was a white Cherokee, and their father was a Lebanese and Syrian.[1]

Portland State University

In 2002, Amir Rabiyah graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies. In 2007, they graduated from New College of California with a Master of Fine Arts in Writing and Consciousness. When Rabiyah was in graduate school in 2005, they met a close friend named Helen Klonaris. Two years after Rabiyah and Klonaris graduated from graduate school, they worked together to edit an anthology titled Writing the Walls Down: A convergence of LGBTQ Voices .[5] In 2009, Rabiyah joined the June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at University of California, Berkeley and participated as a poetry instructor in the program. They were also fellow in VONA (Voices of our Nations) for three times, which were in 2008, 2012, and 2013. Moreover, Rabiyah worked with composer Mari Esabel Valverde for original musical scores of “Our Dangerous Sweetness”, which was performed in GALA Choruses Festival 2016. In 2014, they worked on a collection of poetry on different aspects such as feelings of being a mixed person with disability, survival and rebellion.

Amir Rabiyah is currently living in San Diego, California.

Career

Amir Rabiyah is most known for their famous works of poetry. Rabiyah’s poetry often features ideas of their own life. Since they are trans and two spirited disabled queer, their experiences and poems are very unique and individualized. The poet's work has been featured in many different journals and magazines. Most of their work focuses on what it is like to be existing at the edges of society and living outside of socially accepted norms. Alongside, they discuss about having multiple identities. Rabiyah is also very recognizable for their hundreds of poetry events that they have participated in across the country. They were in 2008 Joy Harjo Poetry Contest taking home the 2nd place prize. They also took part of the 2012 Enizagam poetry contest. They are very notable for hosting workshops and traveling around the nation to promote their beliefs. Rabiyah’s main goal in their career is to be the voice inside of the individuals who may feel individualized by society because of their differences.

Works

Prayers of My 17th Chromosome is Amir Rabiyah’s very first full collection poetry book, which was published on November 14, 2017. They are also known for co-editing Writing the Walls Down: A convergence of LGBTQ Voices with Helen Cloners. A book that delves into the metaphorical meanings of physical walls in life and the internal walls in us. Their work was also part of a book called Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer poetry and Poetics, a collection of poems by various trans and genderqueer writers. Some of the other works they did are “shooting s(T)ar” in Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, 2010; “Invisible Man” in Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion and Spirituality, 2011; “The Tightest Lines,” and “Flesh of My Flesh” in Flicker and Spark: A Contemporary Queer Anthology of Spoken Word and Poetry, 2013. Rabiyah’s work has also been published in places including but not limited to Mizna, 580 Split, Enizagam, the Asian American Literary Review, Kweli Journal, Sukoon, and more.

References

1. “Amir Rabiyah.” Amir Rabiyah, www.amirrabiyah.com/.Accessed 19 Mar 2020.

2.  “Amir Rabiyah.” Amir Rabiyah, www.amirrabiyah.com/cv.php Accessed 19 Mar 2020.

3. “Interview with Amir Rabiyah.” wavesbreaking.libsyn.com/interview-with-amir-rabiyah. Accessed 19 Mar 2020.

4. Contributor, Guest. "3 Poems By Amir Rabiyah – The Feminist Wire" thefeministwire.com/2014/04/3-poems-by-amir-rabiyah/ Accessed 19 Mar 2020.

5. Contributor, Guest. "3 Poems By Amir Rabiyah – The Feminist Wire". Thefeministwire.Com, 2020, https://thefeministwire.com/2014/04/3-poems-by-amir-rabiyah/. Accessed 19 Mar 2020.