2022 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize Winner

Purvi Shah cultivates healing through anti-violence advocacy and creating art. Her recent book, Miracle Marks (Northwestern University Press, 2019), explores gender violence, racial inequity, and the possibilities of the sacred. Her debut prize-winning book, Terrain Tracks (New Rivers Press, 2006), plumbs migration, lineages, and belonging. During the 10th anniversary of 9/11, with Kundiman, she directed Together We Are New York, a community-based poetry project highlighting Asian American voices. She has led creative expression workshops with survivors of violence and enabled storytelling on surviving to thriving. She won a SONY South Asian Social Service Excellence Award for her leadership fighting violence against women. With Anjali Deshmukh, she creates interactive public art at https://circlefor.com/. Their participatory project, Missed Fortunes, documented pandemic rituals to create poetry with visual art & a community archive for healing. Purvi relishes sparkly eyeshadow, raucous laughter, and seeking justice.