Amari Amai iAmari Amai (he/they) is a Black nonbinary storyteller, poet, playwright, and worldbuilder born and raised in Chicago. As a Great Migration baby with roots in Jackson, Mississippi, Amari’s work is rooted in oral tradition and archival resurrection on and off the page, using poetry, folklore, soundscapes, and performance to bend time towards a pre-colonial past and decolonized future.

Their work has received support and fellowships from Tin House, Periplus Collective, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Hyde Park Art Center, The Watering Hole, Vermont Studio Center, and Celebration Theater of Los Angeles.

Amari is the founder of Crossroads Writers Collective, a communal writing group for Black queer folks based in Chicago. As a 2025 Pushcart Prize and 2026 Best of the Net nominee, they are currently at work on their debut poetry collection and accompanying performance series. 

Are you a Black queer writer in Chicago? Visit @crossroadswriterscollective on Instagram! We’d love to have you.