Sehba Sarwar

Sehba Sarwar is a poet, novelist, essayist, and multidisciplinary artist. She was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. She earned her BA at Mount Holyoke College and an MA at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Sarwar’s essays and poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, Poetry in English from Pakistan, Callaloo, Creative Time, Aleph, Vallum, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, while her short stories have been anthologized by Feminist Press, Akashic Books, and HarperCollins India. She is also the author of the novel Black Wings (Veliz Books, 2019). 

Sarwar is the recipient of multiple awards from various organizations, including Los Angeles’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Pasadena’s Cultural Affairs Division, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and Houston Arts Alliance.  

Prior to moving to California, Sarwar resided in Houston, Texas, where in 2000, she founded and directed Voices Breaking Boundaries, a social- justice arts organization through which she initiated projects such as Borderlines to explore border issues in North America and South Asia. Her papers are archived at the University of Houston. 

In 2024, she was appointed the poet laureate of Altadena, California, alongside Lester Graves Lennon.