Purvi Shah is a writer and social justice activist, known for her work to enable language access and advocacy for immigrant survivors of violence.

Career

Shah is the author of three collections of poetry, ''Terrain Tracks'' (

New Rivers Press New Rivers Press is an American non-profit publishing press located in Moorhead, Minnesota and affiliated with Minnesota State University Moorhead. As of 2020 they had published more than 400 books. History and mission New Rivers Press was found ...

, 2006), ''Dark Lip of the Beloved – Sound Your Fiery God-Praise'' ( belladonna*, 2015), and ''Miracle Marks'' (

Northwestern University Press Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of continental philosophy, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticism ...

, 2019). Her debut collection, ''Terrain Tracks'', won the Many Voices Project prize and was nominated for the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Members’ Choice Award in 2007. Of ''Miracle Marks'', Seema Reza wrote for ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ' ...

'', "Shah traces the links of the chains that bound and continue to bind Indian women into submission and exclusion... Here the use of space is not only aesthetic, but political—the words spread like oil on water, the marks cannot be contained. The miracles compound and morph: woman in pursuit, woman as monster, woman as mark-maker and space-taker. And woman refusing: to offer herself as refuge, as sacrifice, as martyr." She has consulted with the

Center for Court Innovation The Center for Court Innovation is an American non-profit organization headquartered in New York, founded in 1996, with a stated goal of creating a more effective and human justice system by offering aid to victims, reducing crime, and improving ...

and the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, and authored the 2017 report, "Seeding Generations: New Strategies Towards Services for People who Abuse." During the 10th anniversary of 9/11, she directed Together We Are New York, a community-based poetry project to highlight Asian American voices. In addition to journals and anthologies, her work is part of public art in Iowa libraries including at Grinnell College.

Awards

Her honors include winning the inaugural SONY South Asian Excellence Award for Social Service in 2008 for her work to end violence against women.

Education

Shah earned her B.A. in Anthropology and Comparative Literature from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where she won the Virginia Voss Poetry Writing Award, and earned her M.A. in American Literature from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Purvi American poets of Asian descent University of Michigan alumni Rutgers University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women poets 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers