Nefertiti Asanti is a poet, cultural worker, and fundraiser from the Bronx. Nefertiti is a recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Watering Hole, Lambda Literary, Anaphora Arts, Winter Tangerine, Museum of the African Diaspora, PEN America, and VONA. Nefertiti’s debut chapbook fist of wind won the inaugural Start a Riot! Chapbook Prize. They’re also a recipient of the 2023 SFF/Nomadic Press Literary Award. Their work can be found at Foglifter, Split Lip Magazine, Santa Fe Writer’s Project, and elsewhere. Nefertiti resides in Oakland and is committed to fundraising to increase Black communities' access to resources and participation in the arts.

fist of wind is a lyrical testimony that centers the Black body as a site of healing and transformation. This chapbook/collection of poetry explores the lived experience of menstruation marked by pain and the liminal existence of Black folk as magical and mortal. fist of wind draws from magical realism to ask: If pain is information, what does individual and collective Black pain tell us about our world and about ourselves? How do we embody healing in this lifetime and beyond?

Nefertiti Asanti Website