KHADIJAH QUEEN

Khadijah Queen's work has appeared in numerous journals, including Poemmemoirstory and New Ohio Review, and has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Khadijah's first poetry collection, Conduit (NY: Black Goat/Akashic Books), was published in 2008. A video/sound/performance artist, Cave Canem Fellow, and founding member of Red Thread Collective, she holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She is currently a graduate fellow in studio art at the University of South Florida.

Queen joined the Navy in 1998, at the age of 22. She served as a sonar technician at sea and as an awards assistant on shore, processing personnel awards for the Atlantic Fleet. Queen left the Navy because she knew that she was "an artist at heart, and the option to be that fully was not possible with continued service." She says she would not join now but doesn't regret her service.

Titles Available from Kore Press:

• Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq