Omotara James

Omotara James was born in Great Britain to Nigerian and Trinidadian parents. Though she was raised primarily in the United States, she has also lived in England and Scotland. James earned a BA in creative writing from Hofstra University and an MFA in poetry from New York University. 

James is the author of Song of My Softening (Alice James Books, 2022) and Daughter Tongue (Akashic Books, 2018), selected for the New Generation African Poets Box Set by the African Poetry Book Fund. She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the Poetry Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Lambda Literary, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and the Cave Canem Foundation. James has also received the 92Y/Discovery Poetry Prize, the Nancy P. Schnader Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference’s Katharine Bakeless Nason Award in Poetry, and the 2023 J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize.

Having worked as both an art therapist and a social worker in the field of harm reduction, James has led workshops at New York University, the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center, the Cave Canem Foundation, Queens Public Library, Brooklyn Poets, and elsewhere. She is currently a teaching artist and editor and lives in New York City.