Nawal is a mixed-race Ghanaian-Lebanese immigrant — a writer, editor, teacher and scholar who approaches all aspects of her literary endeavors as a means of building creative collaborative communities. Her book, A record of how the mother’s textile became sound, was a finalist in the NOEMI Book Prize and is forthcoming from NOEMI Press in March 2023. Her second manuscript, an improvised song is likely to come apart and scatter in infinite directions, was a finalist in the University of Pittsburgh's 2021 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize and the 2021 Autumn House Press Full-Length Poetry Contest. Her current research interest, which she intends to culminate in the form of a docu-poetics book, centers on the British colonization of Ghana and its claims to have been a humane colonizer. As an educator, she remains committed to deepening the field of teaching and scholarship surrounding diversity in literature. Nawal holds an MFA in Creative Writing in Poetry from Regis University and is the founding editor-in-chief of the art and literary magazine, Inverted Syntax. She is the mother of four children ranging in ages from 13 to 25 and is a perpetual dinner host.
