IS FROM THE FORMER FULANI CALIPHATE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA.
SHE IS: A HAUSA-SPEAKING FULANI, AN AMERICAN, A SERIAL IMMIGRANT, A SOLO TRAVELER, A DUAL/GLOBAL CITIZEN.
A CROSS-GENRE AUTHOR, HER WORK APPEARS IN NEW ENGLAND REVIEW, BEST NEW POETS, AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, THE IOWA REVIEW, THE YALE REVIEW, & . . .
MASS FOR SHUT-INS, HER 1ST BOOK OF POETRY, WON THE 117TH YALE YOUNGER PRIZE & WAS RELEASED IN MARCH 2023, BECOMING A FINALIST FOR A CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD. THE PRIZE JUDGE, RAE ARMANTROUT, CALLED IT “FLOWERS OF EVIL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.”
IN NOVEMBER 2022, HARPER COLLINS/ECCO PUBLISHED HER TRANS-CONTINENTAL MEMOIR, A COASTLINE IS AN IMMEASURABLE THING, CHOSEN AS PEOPLE’S BOOK OF THE WEEK & ONE OF KIRKUS REVIEWS’ BEST NONFICTION BOOKS.
AN ALUMNA OF YALE UNIVERSITY & THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’S CREATIVE WRITING MFA, SHE RECEIVED HER PHD FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
IN THE FALL OF 2023, SHE SERVED AS THE INAUGURAL VISITING WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS.
A CAVE CANEM FELLOW & A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW AT BROWN UNIVERSITY, SHE HOLDS THE MARY ROUTT ENDOWED CHAIR OF WRITING AT SCRIPPS COLLEGE.
HER 2ND NONFICTION BOOK ORIGINATES A GLOBAL MYTHOS OF THE NIGERIAN DIASPORA. HER 2ND BOOK OF POETRY HAS AN INSTINCTIVE TITLE: RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS.