SWANA Dykes
Edited by Nikki Luna and Khadija Pitts-Ceesay

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Editors Khadija Pitts-Ceesay and Nikki Luna deftly assemble creative and artistic works that envision a world beyond militarized borders and that reflect the powerful and poignant ancestral narratives that these artists preserve through their work. In SWANA Dykes, artists and writers investigate many urgent topics: the sacredness of transgender people and gender non-conformity, resistance against militarism, policing, and genocide, the exploitative Kafala system, and archives as a tool of liberation.

Writings in SWANA Dykes make connections between different oppressive systems that seek to isolate, illustrating how interconnectedness is a necessary facet of movement work. Refusing compartmentalization, these artists explore their personal experiences of sex, familial bonds, fashion, artistry, and relationships. Featuring work from first-time and previously published artists, SWANA Dykes is a compelling addition to artistic conversations of queerness, gender nonconformity, anti-militarism, SWANA heritage, and more.

About the Editors
Nikki Luna is a Lebanese-American genderqueer poet, visual artist, make-up artist, and archival researcher based in Mnisóta Makhóčhe (Minnesota) on the occupied ancestral and contemporary homeland of the Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples. Nikki’s work with poetry and archives has included organizing the Mizna Arab Arts’ Writing Collective, teaching writing workshops with Querencia Press, serving as a judge for the Minnesota Book Award, performing public poetry readings with Mizna Arab Arts and No Borders @ Minneapolis People’s Pride, and researching with the archives at the Newberry Library in Chicago, IL and the Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture in College Station, TX. When they were little, Nikki dreamed of writing books, creating art, and being a queer mermaid. She honors those desires through literary community building, genre-fluid artistic practices, and growing amongst chosen family. IG: @nikki__luna

Khadija Pitts-Ceesay is an Afro-Arab poet from Pittsburg, Kansas. She has been writing poetry since 2014 about her sexuality, religion, and race and owes much of the ideas behind her work to her relationships with family, both good and bad. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Pittsburg State University where she studied English literature and poetics. Her debut book of poetry Black by the Bedside was released in August. During her free time, Ceesay enjoys reading, crocheting, and spending time at home with her wife and two cats.

Press Kit for SWANA Dykes.