about the activist

Samiya Bashir is a Communications Consultant with over a decade of experience working with non-profit and arts organizations. Most recently she served as Communications Director for Freedom to Marry, a national organization advocating for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Prior to joining Freedom to Marry, Samiya served as Communications Director for The Balm in Gilead, an international HIV/AIDS organization.

In addition to her work with Freedom to Marry and the Balm in Gilead, Samiya has run her own communications and editorial consulting firm for nearly a decade serving clients such as Pushback Network, Black Women's Health Imperative, Avery Institute for Social Change, Harm Reduction Coalition, Essence Communications, Fenton Communications, Columbia University, Women's Sports Foundation, American Public Health Association, New York Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center and more.

A fellow with Cave Canem, Samiya has also lent her communications and editorial expertise to a number of arts and community organizations, is a founding organizer and board member of and a founding organizer of Fire & Ink a writers festival for LGBT people of African descent and has previously served as a board member for Black Pride NYC and the National Black Justice Coalition.

Samiya's editorial background is extensive. She has served as an editor for Ms. Magazine, Black Issues Book Review, and Curve, among others, and her articles, stories and poetry have appeared in books, magazines and journals internationally.

Samiya is the editor of Best Black Women’s Erotica 2 and co-editor, with Tony Medina and Quraysh Ali Lansana, of Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art. In 2002 Samiya was awarded the Lesbian Poetry Award from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

Her latest book is Where the Apple Falls: poems (RedBone Press, 2005).

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