Amari

I am Amari Amai (they/he) poet, model, actor, and educator. As a Great Migration Baby, born and raised in Chicago with roots in Jackson, Mississippi, I use my spirit-led pen to create Southern Gothic, Afro-Surrealist, and Afrofuturist pieces of work.

My work has received support and fellowships from The Watering Hole, In Surreal Life, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Periplus Collective, Tin House, and Vermont Studio Center. During my time as a fellow with the Earthseed Black Family Archive Project, I am currently at work on my debut hybrid poetry collection that weaves my family history with archival artifacts and folklore to explore racialized gendered experiences.

I am also the founder of Crossroads Writers Collective, a communal writing group for Black queer writers of all genres in Chicago. To find out more, visit @crossroadswriterscollective on Instagram!

Take some time to marvel at my beloveds on this page, and then please explore some of my work:)