Yasmine Bolden (they/them) is a poet, educator, researcher, and descendant of Black/Nahiłií women who heard the earth speaking to them through their gardens and lovingly spoke back. They grew up writing against white supremacist mythology in so-called Virginia on the former plantation lands of United States President George Washington. Now, they continue that work as they explore queer kinship-making and memory-keeping in the aftermath of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and how Nahiłií histories and futures are intrinsically tied to water through written and performed verse. They were named a Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream I, Too, Am the Dream grand prize awardee in poetry by Angie Thomas as well as a 2023 Best of the Net poet by Sundress Academy for the Arts. 

Recognized by the Congressional Award Program for their research on the Harriet Tubman Byway, Bolden has been a Southern Esesu Endeavor Audre Lorde Fellow, Writers in Baltimore Schools Teaching Fellow, and Juneteenth Resiliency Awardee.  They attend Johns Hopkins University as a Writing Seminars and Africana Studies double major. There, they've won numerous honors for their service to the arts and campus arts communities, having founded their university's premier undergraduate poetry and performance club, Bluejays & Poets, and performed in and co-led the university's new Rituals of Remembrance honoring those enslaved on what is now the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus. They have had their work published by or been invited to perform their work at the University of Benin, The United States' National Library of Medicine, ONLY POEMS, The Baltimore Beat, Johns Hopkins University's Sustainability Initiative, Black Feminist Collective, the Feminist Center for Creative Work, Perhappened, the University of Southampton's John Hansard Gallery, Morgan State University's Department of African American and African Studies, The National Museum of African American History & Culture's Young Historians Institute, and beyond.

In recent years, they've also been a reader for the Hopkins Review, guest-edited with ALOCASIA, served as a SUNHOUSE summer mentor in poetry, and taught adult learners on Coursera and K-12 with Cheryl Carter Collegiate Classes and Springfield Teaching and Resources. When they're not researching, studying, or writing, you can typically find them aurora borealis hunting, trying a new twist-out method, tending to their ever-increasing family of houseplants, scrapbooking and documenting what they learn from their families about their Nahiłií, Irish, and Niitsitapi ancestors, and museum-hopping. You can follow more of their professional journey as a poet, educator, and researcher on Instagram, where they archive their work (and plant children) in detail, @ monsteramommyyy . They can be contacted for guest performances, workshops, or general inquiries at seekingjoyandjustice@gmail.com . 

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