Written by
Sehba Sarwar

Sehba Sarwar spent the first half of her life in a home filled with artists, activists, and educators in Karachi, Pakistan, where she was born and raised. While based in Houston, Texas, for more than two decades, she started a social justice arts organization that collapses borders and brings communities together and is the recipient of multiple National Endowment for the Arts awards. Sarwar’s stories, essays, and poems straddle South Asia and the US and have appeared in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines in Canada, India, Pakistan, South Korea, and the US in publications including The New York Times’ Sunday Magazine, Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, Callaloo and elsewhere. In 2019, a second edition of her novel Black Wings will be released (Veliz Books), while her short story, “Railway Track,” will appear in Houston Noir (Akashic Books). Sarwar’s video collages have been screened in Egypt, India, Pakistan, and the US; she has also created a large body of site-specific art installations. Her papers are archived at the University of Houston’s Library. Currently, Sarwar is based in Los Angeles, California, with her Chicano husband and their teenage daughter from where she writes, teaches, and creates art. (Photo courtesy sehbasarwar.com)