NISHA PATEL

Nisha Patel is an award-winning disabled queer spoken word author & artist. She was the City of Edmonton’s 8th Poet Laureate, and is a Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion. Her debut poetry collection, COCONUT (NeWest Press) was a finalist for the ABPA Regional Book of the Year. Her sophomore poetry collection a fate worse than death is out now with Arsenal Pulp Press. She is currently working on disability advocacy, children's books, and comics. She is also working on a new collection of ecopoetics in a world of climate collapse. 

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Nisha is a full-time type 2 diabetic. Although labels are temporary and ever-evolving, her identifying labels have helped her to narrow down treatment, access affirmative and proactive care, and fight for disability justice. She has delivered keynotes and lectures on the intersections between queerness and disability, and frequently teaches workshops on using creativity as a tool in understanding and celebrating mental health. Much of her day to day is spent with her partner, author and artist Matthew James Weigel (Whitemud Walking), as they navigate care. 

 

Nisha was awarded the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award, the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal, and is a finalist of the Vallum Chapbook Award. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she has been published by filling station, GUTS magazine, THIS Magazine, Edify, New Trail, Glass Buffalo, The Polyglot, and more, and has works in anthologies with The City Series (Frog Hollow Press), COVID Collections, and Hush No More: Poetry and Art to End Rape Culture. Nisha holds a Masters of Arts in Cultural Studies from Queen’s University and is completing an MFA in Creative Writing at UBC. 

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Nisha works towards her goal of building a stronger artistic community through living in her truth. You can find her on social media @anothernisha

You can find her books at Audreys Bookshop in Edmonton, and online through your local and national bookshops.