Andrea Abi-Karam
OccupationPoet · performer · editor
Alma materMills College (MFA)[1]
GenrePoetry
Notable works
  • EXTRATRANSMISSION
  • Villainy
  • We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics

Andrea Abi-Karam is an Arab-American and trans poet, performer, and editor. They are the author of the poetry collections EXTRATRANSMISSION and Villainy, and co-editor, with Kay Gabriel, of We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics.[2][3]

EXTRATRANSMISSION and Villainy were finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, and We Want It All was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Anthology and the Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature.[4][5][6][7]

Work

Abi-Karam's chapbook The Aftermath was published by Commune Editions in 2016.[1] Their first full-length collection, EXTRATRANSMISSION, was published by Kelsey Street Press in 2019.[2] Reviews in The Adroit Journal and Full Stop discussed the book's treatment of the body, gender, trauma, militarism, and violence.[8][9] EXTRATRANSMISSION was a 2020 Lambda Literary Award finalist for Transgender Poetry.[4]

In 2020, Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel edited We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, published by Nightboat Books.[10] Publishers Weekly described the book as an anthology of works by trans writers that uses poetry to reimagine collective struggle.[11] In a 2020 interview with Them, Abi-Karam and Gabriel discussed the anthology's selection process and its relationship to political movement work.[12] The anthology was a 2021 Lambda Literary Award finalist for LGBTQ Anthology and a Publishing Triangle Award finalist for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature.[5][7]

Abi-Karam's second collection, Villainy, was published by Nightboat Books in 2021.[2] Reviews in Publishers Weekly, the Poetry Foundation, and the Los Angeles Review of Books discussed the collection's use of capitalization, repetition, protest, public space, grief, surveillance, and political violence.[13][14][15] In Them, Zeyn Joukhadar wrote that Abi-Karam's performance practice incorporates the body, and that Villainy asks readers not to look away from how "pain and legacies of violence" can be entangled with healing, embodiment, and joy.[16] Villainy was a 2022 Lambda Literary Award finalist for Transgender Poetry.[6]

Bibliography

  • The Aftermath. Commune Editions, 2016.
  • EXTRATRANSMISSION. Kelsey Street Press, 2019.
  • We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics. Co-edited with Kay Gabriel. Nightboat Books, 2020.
  • Villainy. Nightboat Books, 2021.

Awards and honors

  • 2020 Lambda Literary Award finalist, Transgender Poetry, for EXTRATRANSMISSION.[4]
  • 2021 Lambda Literary Award finalist, LGBTQ Anthology, for We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, with Kay Gabriel.[5]
  • 2021 Publishing Triangle Award finalist, Trans and Gender-Variant Literature, for We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, with Kay Gabriel.[7]
  • 2022 Lambda Literary Award finalist, Transgender Poetry, for Villainy.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Andrea Abi-Karam". Arts Research Center, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  2. ^ "Andrea Abi-Karam". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  3. ^ "Andy Fitch Interviews Andrea Abi-Karam". Poetry Foundation. June 28, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  4. ^ "2020 Lambda Literary Awards Finalists Announced". Poetry Foundation. March 10, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  5. ^ "2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. March 15, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  6. ^ Lewis, L. D. (March 15, 2022). "2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  7. ^ "Recommended Reading: We Want It All, edited by Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel". Publishing Triangle. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  8. ^ Mackay, Julie (December 20, 2019). "Self-Mechanized Survival: A Review of Andrea Abi-Karam's 'EXTRATRANSMISSION'". The Adroit Journal. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  9. ^ Khraibani, Sahar (March 26, 2020). "EXTRATRANSMISSION – Andrea Abi-Karam". Full Stop. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  10. ^ "We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics". Nightboat Books. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  11. ^ "We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics". Publishers Weekly. October 15, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  12. ^ Sanders, Wren (November 24, 2020). "Read Me: This Trans Poetics Anthology Imagines a World Where "Everything Belongs to Everyone"". Them. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  13. ^ "Villainy by Andrea Abi-Karam". Publishers Weekly. September 28, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  14. ^ Gao, Jay. "Villainy". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  15. ^ Fahmy, Hazem (September 21, 2021). ""I Don't Want to Think about the Limits": On Andrea Abi-Karam's "Villainy"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  16. ^ Joukhadar, Zeyn (November 12, 2021). "Andrea Abi-Karam's Punk Poems of Ecstatic Revolution". Them. Retrieved April 29, 2026.