JAIA HAMID BASHIR  | 801-455-1599 |  jai.hamid.bashir@gmail.com | jaiahamidbashir.com

______________________________________________________________________________

Columbia University, School of the Arts Spring 2020 

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Poetry

GPA: 4.0/ 4.0 

 

The University of Utah, College of Humanities  Spring 2018 

Master of Arts in Environmental Humanities 

GPA: 3.91/4.0

 

The University of Utah  Fall 2015 

Bachelor of Arts, English Literature | Honors Bachelor of Science, Environmental Studies | Bachelor of Arts, Gender Studies | Minor in Urban Ecology 

GPA: 3.65/4.0

 

Academic Interests: 20th Century Poetry,  Environmental Humanities, Sexuality Studies, Queer Ecology,  Climate Studies, Visual & Material Culture, Aesthetic Criticism, Urban Ecology  

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

BOOKS

 

The Afterlife of Sweetness (Mad Creek Books / Ohio State University Press, 2026)

Winner, Charles B. Wheeler Prize (selected by Marcus Jackson 

 

Desire/Halves (Nine Syllables Press, 2024) | Winner, The Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Currently in second print. 

 

SELECT PUBLICATIONS | POETRY

 

2026 “Instructions on How to Thaw,” Finalist for The Plentitudes Journal Prize 

2026 “Angel with Metal Rod in Leiu of a Femur, Ireland Poetry Review 

2026 “Silver Alert,” American Poetry Review 

2026 “Triptych,” Berkeley Poetry Review 

2026 “Aperature,” “Archidina,” “The Portal,” Sonora Review

2025 “Brine,” Notre Dame Review

2025 “Divinities” and “The Teeth Lottery,” Cream City Review

2025 “The Divine Dyslexia,” Winner, Founders’ Contest | RHINO Poetry

2025 “The Brute,” Narrative Magazine

2025 “Good Girl,” Finalist, Leonard Cohen Poetry Prize | Only Poems

2024 “The Stringing of the Bow,” “Self-Portrait,” “The Contest,” and “The Cavesleepers,” Virginia Quarterly Review

2024 “Marrow of Mercy,” Australian Poetry Journal

2024 “Then, Vultures,” The Rumpus

2024 “Lucky Rabbit’s Foot,” The Journal

2023 “Haptics of Blue,” Image Journal

2023 “Saint Blaise of Throats and Wild Things,” Image Journal

2023 “The Strangers,” The Amsterdam Review

2022 “Aleph from What Once Was a Homeland,” Denver Quarterly

2022 “On Hunger,” Pushcart Prize Nominee | Southern Humanities Review

2022 “The Apiarists,” The Tampa Review (Reprinted in Orison Anthology of Spiritual Writing)

2022 “In the Zikr Room,” Mizna Journal

2021 “And the Word for Moonlight is My Name,” Poetry Magazine

2021 “A Theorem for Summer,” Crazyhorse (swamp pink)

2021 “Elegy for a Newborn Mariner,” The Adroit Journal

2020 “The Repast of a Lion in Dream,” Guernica

2020 “In Dead Horse Point, We Are Alone,” The American Poetry Review

2020 “The Waiters,” The American Poetry Review

2020 “Nocturna,” The American Poetry Review

2020 “Feral, Untold Grace,” The American Poetry Review

2020 “In Brave Slowness of Life,” The American Poetry Review

2020 “Here, the Wolves,” Best of the Net Winner | Pithead Chapel

2020 “The Dive,” Pushcart Prize Nominee | Black Warrior Review

2020 “The Appalachian Trail,” Pushcart Prize Nominee | Black Warrior Review

2019 “The Orchard Thieves,” Palette Poetry

2019 “Your Love, The Animal,” Pushcart Prize Nominee | Mikrokosmos

2018 “How to Make an Ariel,” Asian American Writers’ Workshop

2015 “Double Exposure,” POETS.org

 

SELECT PUBLICATIONS | FICTION 

2026 “Two-Headed Animal,” Nimrod Journal

2024 “The Sublime Room,” Black Warrior Review

 

INTERVIEWS AND PRESS 

“On Poetry: April 2026,” by Steven Leyva, Washington Independent Review of Books

“The Self is a Story We Tell: Interview with Jaia Hamid Bashir,” by Vika Mujumdar, Liminal Transit Review 

“A review of Jaia Hamid Bashir’s The Afterlife of Sweetness,” by Zach Bartles, The Adroit Journal 

“Everything Was in the Throat of the World: On Jaia Hamid Bashir’s Desire/Halves” by Amogha, Poetry Northwest

Multilingualism and Metaphor: On Desire/Halves by Jaia Hamid Bashir by D.W. Baker, Philly Poetry Chapbook Review 

“Before First Book: A Roundtable Discussion” by Patrycja Humienik, The Rumpus

 

AWARDS

 

2025 Winner of the Charles B. Wheeler Founder Prize from The Journal at Ohio State University.    Selected by Marcus Jackson

2025 2025 Ralph Hamilton Editors' Prize by  Rhino Poetry

2025 Finalist for Leonard Cohen Poetry Prize by ONLY POEMS 

2024 Semi-finalist for Philip Levine Poetry Prize 

2024 Finalist for RHINO 2025 Founders' Prize

2024 Nominated for Pushcart Prize, “Alone, In Halves” | Southeast Journal 

2024 Nominated for “Best of the Net” by The Journal out of Ohio State University

2024 Acceptance to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference 

2024 Nomination for “Best New Poets Anthology” by Image Journal 

2024 Nomination for “Best New Poets Anthology” by Southeast Review 

2024 Publication of “Desire/Halves,” Nine Syllables Press, a chapbook press created in partnership with the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College

2024 POETRY Foundation’s POEM OF the DAY, “And the Word for Moonlight is my Name.” 

2023 Finalist for Nine Syllables Chapbook Prize

2023 Finalist for Newfound Press Chapbook Prize  | Gloria Anzaldua Prize 

2023 Small Orange Press Emerging Woman Poet Honor

2022  Nominated for Pushcart  Prize, “On Oysters” | Southern Humanities Review

2022 Winner of the Best of the Net for “Here, the Wolves,” | Nominated by Pithead Chapel 

2021 Finalist for Gregory Djanikian Scholar of Poetry

2020 Nominated for Pushcart Prize, “Brief Conversation with a Little Moon” | Ligeia Magazine 

2020 Nominated for Pushcart Prize, “The Dive”  | Black Warrior Review 

2020 Nominated for Pushcart Prize, “Us, Again in Arches” | The Hopper 

2020 Nominated for Pushcart Prize, “Besides the Fear of Darkness”  | Nostrovia! Press 

2020 Winner of the Nostrovia! Press Prize

2020 Best of the Net nomination, “For the Next Extinction” | 3 Elements Review

2020 Winner of the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize

_____________________________________________________________________________

READINGS

 

Poet-in- Residence, Westminster University —2026

 

April Poetry Month Celebration, King’s English Bookstore-—2026

 

Invited Guest Poet, Issaquah Literary Nights, Issaquah, WA — 2025
 

Happy Neuroqueering: A Reading by Neuroqueer Poets, AWP Conference, Philadelphia, PA — 2022
 

Sister SLC, Salt Lake City, UT — 2021
 

Woke Words, YWCA Utah, Salt Lake City, UT — 2020
 

Gallery Reading, Columbia University, Morningside Heights, NY — 2020
 

Langston Hughes House, Harlem, NY — 2019
 

Nocturna, HesseFlatow Gallery, Amagansett, NY — 2019
 

Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival, Yonkers, NY — 2019
 

Langston Hughes House, Harlem, NY — 2019 (second engagement)
 

Our Word Reading Series, Columbia University, Morningside Heights, NY — 2019
________________________________________________________________________

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION 

 

Visiting Professor, Westminster University Spring 2026

• Designed and led an upper-level workshop of 18 students integrating contemporary poetry, literary analysis, editorial practice, and MFA preparation.
   

• Structured curriculum around workshop pedagogy, revision strategies, and professional development in creative writing.
   

• Facilitated a learning community that included both university students and local participants, bridging academic and public literary spaces.
   

Associate Instructor, University of Utah Spring–Summer 2017

• Designed and taught Professional Communication courses for engineering undergraduates.
   

• Developed assignments emphasizing technical clarity, collaborative authorship, genre awareness, and oral presentation skills.
   

• Integrated discipline-specific case studies to strengthen rhetorical precision in scientific and technical contexts.
   

Instructor & Fellow, College of Humanities, University of Utah 2016–2018 

• Taught undergraduate writing courses across four semesters.
   

• Developed curricula centered on civic engagement, critical inquiry, research-based writing, and literary analysis.
   

• Mentored students in argumentative writing, revision practices, and rhetorical awareness.

 

Courses Taught 

WRTG 2010 – Intermediate Writing (Fall 2016; Fall 2017; Spring 2017)
ME EN 3400 – Professional Communication for Mechanical Engineers (Spring 2017; Summer 2017)
MSE 5090 – Case Studies in Materials Engineering (Spring 2017)

______________________________________________________________________________

 

COMMUNITY CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS

 

• Developer & Instructor, Visions Virtual Workshop — 2025- Ongoing
  Designed and led a virtual writing workshop for 12 emerging poets, mentoring both pre-MFA and post-MFA participants.
   

• Guest Lecturer, Utah Valley University (UVU) — 2023
  Delivered a lecture in an Anthropology course focused on creative practice and cultural engagement.
   

• Workshop Instructor, YWCA Utah — 2021
  Taught a writing-centered workshop supporting community storytelling and skill development.
   

• Various Workshops, Columbia University — 2018–2020
  Facilitated multiple workshops for emerging writers, supporting craft development and critical engagement.
   

• Arts Workshop Leader, School of Visual Arts (SVA) — 2019
  Led a two-day arts intensive in collaboration with SVA (New York City) in Amagansett, NY.

______________________________________________________________________________

 

RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

Creative Director – The Historic Commercial Club, Utah | 2020–Present

Led all programming, marketing, and logistics for weddings and cultural events in a historic venue.
Built a community-facing calendar of corporate and nonprofit events, increasing bookings by 60% 

 

Grant Writer – Kimball Art Center | 2022

Secured over $150,000 in grant funding for Park City's premier arts festival and year-round programming. Developed language for institutional advancement, donor communication, and grant 

applications.

 

Program Assistant – 92nd Street Y, Unterberg Poetry Center | 2020

Supported the curation and execution of readings, workshops, and public programming.
Developed marketing strategy and event communications for a major NYC literary hub.

 

Arts Editor – Columbia Journal | 2020

Edited poetry and nonfiction submissions; conducted artist interviews; managed WordPress-based editorial content.

______________________________________________________________________________

 

REFERENCES | UPON REQUEST

 

Dr. Brett Clark, University of Utah

Shane McCrae, Columbia University

Dr. Alan Gibert, Columbia University