janan alexandra (b.1990) is the daughter of a Lebanese mother and a Beirut-born American father. Her life has been peripatetic, with roots scattered in Cyprus, Lebanon, Pakistan, England, France, and many corners of North America. Since 2015, janan has taught poetry and creative writing in schools, libraries, youth arts centers, zoom rooms, and carceral spaces. Along with language work, janan has facilitated restorative movement classes; nannied for families; welded ice cream scoops; tied oyster nets; tended land and animals; built furniture; baked bread; painted houses; and busked fiddle tunes to make a living.

A 2021-2022 Creative Research Fulbright Scholar, janan has also received support from the Vermont Studio Center, the Fine Arts Work Center, the MFA program at Indiana University, and the Stadler Center for Literary Arts, all of which provided gifts of time, space, and community.

janan’s debut poetry collection, COME FROM, will be published by BOA Editions in the spring of 2025. You can read some of her work in Ploughshares, The Adroit Journal, The Rumpus, Beloit Poetry Journal, Mizna, and elsewhere in print and online.