About Maisha Z. Johnson
Photo by Darius Johnson
Some of what’s been said about Maisha lately:
“Inspiring and brilliant young mind.”
“Maisha has passion and vision and practical smarts, as well as a social conscience - all of it embedded in her writing rather than overlaid on it.”
“I bet the Z stands for ‘zex appeal.’”
"she is a water drop in a wind tunnel
the howling eye in an ink storm
a microphone submerged in a bathtub ..." -poet Sam Sax
Maisha Z. Johnson is a San Francisco-based writer of Trinidadian descent. She studied Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Poetry from Pacific University. She is a member of the staff collective at Community United Against Violence (CUAV), helping prevent and respond to violence within and against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) communities through arts and healing support groups and community organizing.
Maisha's fiction has been published in Transfer magazine, awarded the Leo Litwak Award for Fiction, and won Portuguese Artist Colony's live writing competition. Her poetry publications include Fierce Hunger, Blackberry: A Magazine, Sparkle & Blink and Matrices:Origins, and she has been a featured reader at literary events, social justice rallies and other happenings throughout the Bay Area. Her work has also appeared in newsletters for social justice organizations such as CUAV and People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER).
In addition to writing, Maisha enjoys helping others discover how writing can be a part of their lives. She has facilitated writing workshops with incarcerated youth with The Beat Within, and worked as an office assistant for Writing Ourselves Whole, Jen Cross's transformative writing workshops.
Maisha loves to explore ways that writing and other creative arts can empower queer folks, people of color, women and anyone else with a story to tell.
“Inspiring and brilliant young mind.”
“Maisha has passion and vision and practical smarts, as well as a social conscience - all of it embedded in her writing rather than overlaid on it.”
“I bet the Z stands for ‘zex appeal.’”
"she is a water drop in a wind tunnel
the howling eye in an ink storm
a microphone submerged in a bathtub ..." -poet Sam Sax
Maisha Z. Johnson is a San Francisco-based writer of Trinidadian descent. She studied Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Poetry from Pacific University. She is a member of the staff collective at Community United Against Violence (CUAV), helping prevent and respond to violence within and against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) communities through arts and healing support groups and community organizing.
Maisha's fiction has been published in Transfer magazine, awarded the Leo Litwak Award for Fiction, and won Portuguese Artist Colony's live writing competition. Her poetry publications include Fierce Hunger, Blackberry: A Magazine, Sparkle & Blink and Matrices:Origins, and she has been a featured reader at literary events, social justice rallies and other happenings throughout the Bay Area. Her work has also appeared in newsletters for social justice organizations such as CUAV and People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER).
In addition to writing, Maisha enjoys helping others discover how writing can be a part of their lives. She has facilitated writing workshops with incarcerated youth with The Beat Within, and worked as an office assistant for Writing Ourselves Whole, Jen Cross's transformative writing workshops.
Maisha loves to explore ways that writing and other creative arts can empower queer folks, people of color, women and anyone else with a story to tell.
