Said Shaiye

Said Shaiye is an Autistic Somali Writer & Photographer who lives in Minneapolis. His debut book, Are You Borg Now?, was named a 2022 Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir. He has published poetry & prose in Indiana Review, Texas Review, Obsidian, Brittle Paper, Pithead Chapel, 580 Split, Entropy, Diagram, and elsewhere. He has contributed essays to the anthologies Muslim American Writers at Home and We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World. He holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota, where he was a Graduate Instructor of Creative Writing, as well as a Judd International Research Fellow. Said is a 2023 Loft Mirrors & Windows Fellow, where he is working on several children’s book manuscripts, and he teaches writing at various colleges in the Twin Cities area, as well as with Unrestricted Interest, an organization dedicated to fostering a love of self expression in Autistic children.