About

Andrea Abi-Karam is a trans, SWANA, punk poet-performer cyborg, workshop facilitator, and activist. Their chapbook, THE AFTERMATH (Commune Editions, 2016), queers Fanon’s vision of how poetry fails to inspire revolution. Under the full Community Engagement Scholarship, Andrea received their MFA in Poetry from Mills College. With Drea Marina they co-hosted Words of Resistance [2012-2017] a monthly, radical, QTPOC open floor poetry series to fundraise for political prisoners’ commissary funds. Selected by Bhanu Kapil, Andrea’s debut EXTRATRANSMISSION (Kelsey Street Press, 2019) is a poetic critique of the U.S. military’s role in the War on Terror. Andrea toured with Sister Spit in 2018 and has performed at RADAR, The Poetry Project, The STUD, Basilica Soundscape, TransVisionaries, Southern Exposure, Counterpulse, & Radius for Arab-American Writers. They have taught workshops at the New York Public Library, San Francisco Public Library, Naropa University, Rock Paper Scissors, Wesleyan University, Barnard College, Seattle University, Bay Area Trans Writers, and FARR Concordia. With Kay Gabriel, they co-edited We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics (Nightboat Books, 2020). Chosen by Simone White, Andrea’s second book, Villainy (Nightboat Books, 2021) reimagines militant collectivity in the wake of the Ghost Ship Fire and the Muslim Ban. Villainy was a 2022 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Poetry. They are a recipient of the inaugural 2023 Jerome Alternates Grant Award & are the Spring 2024 Black Mountain Institute UNLV Breakout Writer. They are currently writing a poet’s novel about crushes.