About Me

Professionally

Aliyah Muhammad is an undergraduate at Mills College studying English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and a minor in Spanish and Spanish American Studies. Her literary experiences constitutes writing short stories and collections of poetry, translating to and from Spanish, constructing poetry chapbooks, and blogging amongst other things. Her projects in progress at Mills often center around the experiences of the African diaspora in the Americas which includes various themes such as Black feminism, theories of race and ethnicity, economic disparities, and sexual violence/rape culture.

Aliyah is an innovative and creative individual who constantly seeks out the unexplored parts of her main genre, poetry, thematically and strategically. Her caustic yet caring personality comes across evidently through her works. Her writing is graced by touches of dark and self-deprecating humor to create a sarcastic and strangely light-hearted tone.

Her main inspirations for her developing writing career have been Maya Angelou, Gloría Anzaldúa, and Edgar Allan Poe (her first love in poetry). She aims to do more work in the subject matter of pan African literature, especially that of the African diaspora who are descendants of survivors of the middle passage.

Casually

I’m a Black poet privileging my Black audience, who likely are actually the minority of my readership. That’s part of my stake on my claim of being pro-Black.

I like to boast about my refined taste for mature wines like tempranillo and zinfandel when I’m really more of a younger sweet red.

I believe, as Anzaldúa has taught me, that I write to be vulnerable, naked with my readers and that this vulnerability, if respected, should be able to create community and change the world.

When I was younger, my mother often called me a “sour patch kid” because I would have the coldest attitude one minute then be “as sweet as a peach” the next. (I’m a Scorpio.)

I fiercely love and protect little Black and brown babies. They are political statements born of political actions without even knowing it yet.