Trish Salah is an

Arab Canadian Arab Canadians (french: Arabo-Canadiens) come from all of the countries of the Arab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 694,015 Canadians, or 1.87%, who claimed Arab ancestry. According to the 2011 Census there were 380,620 Canadia ...

poet, activist, and academic. She is the author of the poetry collections, ''Wanting in Arabic'', published in 2002 by

TSAR Publications TSAR Publications is a Toronto-based nonprofit book publisher focusing on multicultural literature, particularly Canadian authors and subject matter. TSAR Publications began as the literary journal ''The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abro ...

and ''Lyric Sexology Vol. 1'', published by Roof Books in 2014. An expanded Canadian edition of ''Lyric Sexology, Vol. 1'' was published by Metonymy Press in 2017.

Biography

Salah was born and raised in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, and is of Lebanese and Irish Canadian heritage. She received her B.A. and M.A. in English and Creative Writing from

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, and her Ph.D. in English Literature at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. While a teaching assistant at York, Salah was politically active in the

Canadian Union of Public Employees The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...

as the first transgender representative to their National Pink Triangle Committee. She is currently associate professor in the Department of Gender Studies at Queen's University, and prior to her appointment at Queen's, was faculty in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Her creative and scholarly work addresses

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

and

transsexual Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignment ...

politics and experience, diasporic

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

identity and culture,

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate a ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

politics and economic and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

. Her poetry combines lyric and experimental forms. The 2013 reissue of ''Wanting in Arabic'' won the

Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Literature is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, that awards books with transgender content. Awards are granted based on literary merit and transgender content, and ther ...

at the

26th Lambda Literary Awards The 26th Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 2, 2014, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2013.

in 2014. In 2018, she was named a finalist for the

Dayne Ogilvie Prize The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an emerging Canadian writer who is part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community. Origina ...

for Canadian LGBTQ writers."Ben Ladouceur, Trish Salah, and Joshua Whitehead named Dayne Ogilvie Prize finalists"
''

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

'', May 17, 2018.

Selected works

Books

Lyric Sexology, Vol. I. New York: Roof Books, 2014. (Second edition: Montreal, Metonymy Press, 2017.) Wanting In Arabic: Poems. Toronto: Tsar Publications, 2002. (Second edition: Toronto, Mawenzi House, 2013.)

Edited volumes

''Arc Poetry Magazine'', "Polymorphous per Verse: Special Issue on Trans, Two Spirit and Non-Binary Writers." Co-edited with Ali Blythe. 94 (Winter 2021). '' TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly''. "Special Issue on Trans Cultural Production." Co-edited with Julian B. Carter and David J. Getsy. 1.4 (2014). Canadian Review of American Studies. "Special Issue on Anne Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees." Co-edited with Sara Matthews and Dina Georgis. 35.2 (2005).

Journal articles

"What Does Tiresias Want?" TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. "Psychoanalysis and Trans Studies." 4.4 (Fall 2017): 632–638. "'Time Isn't After Us': Some Tiresian Durations." Special Issue on Trans Temporalities. Somatechnics 7.1 (March 2017): 16-33. "Backlash to the Future: Re/Inscribing Transsexuality as Fundamentalism." Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 25 (Spring 2011): 212–222. "In Lieu of a Transgender Poetics." Contemporary Feminist Poetics in Canada. Ed. Kate Eichorn and Barbara Godard. Spec. Issue of Open Letter. 13.9 (Summer 2009): 34–6. "After Cissexual Poetry." Contemporary Queer Poetics. Ed. Julian Brolaski. Spec. Issue of Aufgabe: Journal of Poetry. 8 (Summer 2009): 282–298.

Book chapters

"Returning to Schreber: Trans Literature as Psychoanalysis." Current Critical Debates in the Field of Transsexual Studies. Oren Gozlan, ed. New York: Routledge, 2018: 169–180. "Reflections on Trans Organizing, Trade Unionism and Radical Communities." Trans Activism in Canada: A Reader. Dan Irving and Rupert Raj, eds. Toronto: Canadian Scholar's Press, 2014: 149–167. "From Fans to Activists: Popular Feminism enlists in 'The War on Terror'." Muslim Women, Transnational Feminism and the Ethics of Pedagogy: Contested Imaginaries in post-9/11 Cultural Practice. Lisa Taylor and Jasmin Zine, eds. Routledge, 2014: 152–71. "Working for Change: Sex Workers in the Union Struggle." with J. Clamen and K. Gillies. Selling Sex: Canadian Academics, Advocates and Sex Workers in Dialogue. Emily van der Meulen, Elya M. Durisin, and Victoria Love eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2013: 113–129. "Notes Towards Thinking Transsexual Institutional Poetics." Trans/acting Culture, Writing and Memory: Essays in Honour of Barbara Godard. Eva C. Karpinski, Jennifer Henderson, Ian Sowton, and Ray Ellenwood, eds. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press: 2013: 167–189. "An-Identity Poetics and Feminist Artist-Run Centers/La poétique de l'anidentité et les centres d'artistes féministes autogérés." Féminismes électriques. Leila Pourtavaf, ed. Montreal: Les Éditions du remue-ménage/ La Centrale Gallerie Powerhouse, 2012: 81–106.

References

External links

Christy Davids interviews Trish Salah, February 10, 2017

Écriture au Trans-féminine: Trish Salah's ''Wanting in Arabic''
in ''Canadian Literature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Salah, Trish Bishop's University faculty Canadian feminists 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian women poets Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian people of Lebanese descent Transgender women Canadian transgender writers Transfeminists Writers from Nova Scotia Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canadian Maronites Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Concordia University faculty York University alumni Canadian LGBT poets Lambda Literary Award winners 21st-century Canadian women writers Transgender academics Transgender studies academics Transgender poets