Threa Almontaser is the critically acclaimed author of the National Book Award honored debut poetry collection, The Wild Fox of Yemen. Her work has been supported by National Endowment for The Arts, the Fulbright Program, and the Rosati Writer Program at Duke. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in poetry and a TESOL certification from North Carolina State University. When not storytelling or coming up with conspiracy theories, she attends comic conventions, trains her koi to do tricks, and keeps an eye out for pretty rocks. She believes writing should not only entertain, but provoke, and can be found most likely sitting hunched over her desk thinking obsessively about the placement of commas.
On writing:
Even in troubling times, the artistic gaze is important and impactful in showcasing what is humane and what isn’t. It constantly asks, Am I doing enough? Writing can push to support communities in progressive ways, especially for those who may not have had a choice in coming here. Make room for the hybridization of language. Understand the failures of translation. Create space for many Englishes. Writers of color are also allowed to write about the universal, not just the specific. Our responsibility is the same as any other during crucial times: to address and summon and portray. Poetry in particular encapsulates broader moments of time and should enlarge its seat in the world. Finding ways to connect with other intimate histories through a story or poem or photograph that holds startling imagery and an unfamiliar point of view can help us divert those complicated social and political structures developed to restrict voice.