Walidah Imarisha Director of the Center for Black Studies and Assistant Professor in the Black Studies Department at Portland State University. Imarisha is an educator and a writer. She is the co-editor of two anthologies, Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements and Another World is Possible. Imarisha is also the author of Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison and Redemption, which won a 2017 Oregon Book Award. She spent 6 years with Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project as a public scholar facilitating programs across the state about Oregon Black history and other topics. In 2015, she received a Tiptree Fellowship for her science fiction writing. In the past, Imarisha has taught at Stanford University, Oregon State University, and Pacific Northwest College of the Arts.
Fields: Oregon Black history, carceral systems and abolition, literature, creative non fiction writing, science fiction/visionary fiction, history of social movements
Publications:
Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption. AK Press/IAS, 2016.
Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements. AK Press/IAS, 2015.
Scars/Stars. Drapetomedia Press, 2013
Another World is Possible. Subway Press, 2001
“The Truth About Alonzo.” Portland Magazine, Fall 2020.
“How Oregon’s Racist History Can Sharpen our Sense of Justice Right Now.” Portland Monthly Magazine, March 2020.
“Breaking Stone Hearts: A Prison Abolitionist’s Read of De Profundis.” Rubicon: An Anthology of Literary and Artist Work Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. Ed. Marie Lecrivain. Sybaritic Press, 2016.
“Alternatives to Policing and the Superhero Model.” Artists Against Police Brutality: A Comic Anthology. Eds. John Jennings and Bill Campbell. Rosarium Publishing, 2015.
“Walking Science Fiction: Samuel R. Delany and Visionary Fiction.” Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany. Eds. Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell. Rosarium Publishing, 2015.
“Rewriting the Future: Using Science Fiction to Re-Envision Justice.” Bitch Magazine Law and Order Issue, February 2015.