Nisha Patel is an award-winning disabled queer spoken word poet & multimedia artist. She was the City of Edmonton’s 8th Poet Laureate, and is a Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion. Her debut poetry collection, COCONUT (NeWest Press), speaks to her experiences as a Gujarati daughter, and is shortlisted for the Alberta Book Publishers Association Regional Book of the Year. She is an educator, mentor, and public speaker. Her work as poet laureate focused on speaking truth to power, and reflecting grief and joy.

Nisha’s latest works include photography, video and sound. She showcased her first multimedia exhibit of disability art in 2022, titled A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH. Her disability poetics chapbook, NOT A DISORDER (Gap Riot Press) is out now. She has an MA in Cultural Studies from Queen’s University, and is an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia.

Nisha was awarded the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award and is a finalist of the Vallum Chapbook Award. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she has been published by filling station, THIS Magazine, and more, and has works in anthologies with The City Series, COVID Collections, and Hush No More: Poetry and Art to End Rape Culture.

Nisha has performed and taught workshops across Canada, participating in festivals, slams, and readings. She has acted as the Metro Edmonton Libraries Writer in Residence, the Nook Cafe Artist in Residence, and the Sewing Machine Factory Artist in Residence. She was also a Festival Producer and Executive Director of the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

A Fate Worse Than Death

A Fate Worse Than Death is a multimodal poetry exploration of disabled life. Often met with the refrain that one would “rather be dead” than disabled, this series of poems instead asks the audience to question what they believe the disabled future holds – and the grief and joy that exist together in it. Written and scored by Nisha Patel, it is also her first foray into new media work that expands the bounds of a where spoken word belongs.

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