Aliah Jahan-Tigh, MFA

Aliah Jahan-Tigh, MFA
Lecturer I, English

Contact Information

Lecturer I, English
Office: Hilliard Hall 206-A
Phone: (936) 261-3716
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Executive Statement

Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh is an Iranian American author, teacher, artist, and their work studies both infrastructures of power and ecological connection. The author of Weren’t We Natural Swimmers, out with Tram Editions, their poems have appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, Mizna, Split This Rock’s Poem of the Week, Guernica, Gulf Coast Journal, Matter Monthly, The Rupture, and others. Jahan-Tigh was a finalist for the 2025 Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing Fellowship, and they have new work forthcoming in the Texas Observer. Their work has also been supported by the New Orleans Poetry Festival, Tin House Summer Workshop, The Brooklyn Rail, and others. Jahan-Tigh lives and works in Houston, Texas

Teaching/Research Area of Interest

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Education

  • Masters of Fine Art, Creative Writing, Antioch University, Los Angeles, California
  • Bachelors of Art, Creative Writing-Poetry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas; University Honors Program with Honors in Major
  • Bachelors of Art, Philosophy, University of Houston, Houston, Texas; University Honors Program with Honors in Major

Credentials, Certificates, Memberships, and Badges

  • RADIUS OF ARAB AMERICAN AND SWANA WRITERS 2019-Present
  • ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND PROGRAMS 2015-Present
  • Academy of American Poets 2023-Present Poetry Society of America 2025-Present

Selection of Courses Taught

  • HUMA 1301, Introduction to the Humanities
  • ENGL 2383 - Survey of World Literature

Selected Research / Creative Activities

Publications

  • Weren’t We Natural Swimmers. Chapbook with Tram Editions, 2022.
  • “Like Zal.” The Texas Observer. July/August 2026
  • “I Desire and Pose A Longstanding Threat.” Gulf Coast Journal. October 2024
  • “Body Under Another’s Tradition.” Spilt This Rock’s Poem of the Week. September 2024
  • “Pathogenesis.” Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day. September 2022
  • “Pastoral/State:Us.” MIZNA Journal. July 2023.
  • “Hydroelectric Complex/Shingles, Spring 2017.” Southern Equality Studios Presents: Shapes & Angles of a Creative Queerantine. September 2021.
  • “Someone Said a War Abroad Seems Preferred.” Southern Equality Studios Presents: Shapes & Angles of a Creative Queerantine. September 2021.
  • “Even If Our Life Was Spent Studying Other Human Medicine.” The Rupture, Spring 2021
  • “Weren’t We Natural Swimmers.” The Rupture, Spring 2021.
  • “Where the Unwanted Is Removed or Purified.” The Rupture, Spring 2021.
  • “Love Swimming This River America.” Storyscape Journal, October 2020.
  • “Someone Drowning in the Atrium of this Church Struggles to Worship.” The Texas Review. 2019.
  • “Deer in Her Empty Garden,” “The Negotiations,” and “Garden in the Iran-Iraq War.” Matter: A Journal of Political Poetry and Commentary, October 2014.
  • “Love American-Made/ Your ToyOde:Us.” Guernica Magazine, December 2015.
  • “Eros in The Apron” and “Whose Picnic.” Glass Mountain Magazine, Fall 2011.

REVIEWS OF WORK AND INTERVIEWS

  • Review of Weren’t We Natural Swimmers, Emily Perez, RHINO Quarterly Fall 2023.
  • Micro Review of Weren’t We Natural Swimmers, George Abraham, TriQuarterly, Fall 2022.
  • Interview on Asheville FM’s Radio’s show, WordPlay. Summer 2026.
  • Interview on Asheville FM’s Radio’s show, WordPlay. Summer 2024.

SPECIAL PRESENTED SEMINARS

  • “Where We Come Together: A Generative Ekphrastic Writing Workshop that Welcomes Both Your Joys and Your Sorrows.” New Orleans 2026 Poetry Festival. National Poetry Festival Taking Place in New Orleans. Organizer and Presenter alongside Keagan Wheat, Tiffany Westry Womack, Liz Williams, and Nandi Comer. Forthcoming April 2026.
  • “Hyphenated Identities: Multi-Ethnic Writers Reading and in Conversation." Panel at RAWIFest, a national and international conference for South West Asian and North African Writers. October 2025. Hosted this year by the University of Houston.
  • “Reflections on the Water: A Guided Ekphrastic Workshop in Response to Short Conservationist Film and Experimental Art Installations.” New Orleans 2025 Poetry Festival. National Poetry Festival Taking Place in New Orleans. Organizer and Presenter alongside Keagan Wheat, Tiffany Westry Womack, and Liz Williams. April 2025.
  • “Queer Texas Poets: Reading at The New Orleans Poetry Festival.” New Orleans 2025 Poetry Festival. National Poetry Festival Taking Place in New Orleans. Reader alongside Keagan Wheat, Stalina Emmanuelle Villarreal, and Anthony Sutton. April 2025.
  • “Margins that Matter: A Celebration of Tram Edition Poets.” New Orleans 2024 Poetry Festival. National Poetry Festival Taking Place in New Orleans. Featured Reader and Presenter with Tram Editions Press. April 2024.
  • “Rebirth and Resistance: A Writing Workshop.” Event with Campaign for Southern Equality Artist Studio. Invited Instructor and Presenter. Virtual, March 2024
  • “Building Writing Collectives that Empower and Support.” Association of Writers and Programs National Conference, Kansas City, February 2024
  • “More Than a Stepping Stone: The Unique Freedom, Risk, and Beauty of Chapbooks.” Association of Writers and Programs National Conference Seattle, March 2023
  • “Experiments Across Genres: Writers & Artists Celebrate Possibility.” Association of Writers and Programs National Conference. Seattle, March 2023
  • “Writing Our Whole Selves: Mixed Writers Challenge the Narrow Literary Landscape.” Association of Writers and Programs National Conference. Philadelphia, March 2022
  • “Our Other Foreign Policy: Navigating Power and Language, Economy and Identity, Inside the Contemporary American Poetry Community.” Critical Thesis Seminar, Antioch University. June 2020
  • Writer in Residence, 2014-2018 Writers in the Schools. Nature Writing Teacher. Houston Texas. “Revolution Trends and Technology in Iran.” Human securities seminar with Dutch Activist, Dr. Mient Jan Faber. Researcher and Presenter. Fall 2011.

PROJECTS

  • “A Dam is Form of Failed Diplomacy: A Poetry Film with Outlier Moving Pictures at REELPoetry International Filmfest.” A poetry film adaptation of the Jahan-Tigh’s poem featured at the REELpoetry International Poetry Film Festival in Houston, Texas, as part of its "Made in Texas" showcase. Film made in collaboration with Jack Cochran and Pamela Falkenburg of Outlier Motion Pictures. September 2026
  • “Reflections on Water: An Evening of Storytelling and Art.” Curated by Aliah Lavonne Tigh, this installation and event showed a multimedia ekphrastic collaboration between Aliah Lavonne Tigh and Liz Williams, and the programming featured readers Lockie Hunter, Jeff Davis, NitaJade, Keagan Wheat, and Aliah Lavonne Tigh alongside an immersive digital installation by Shani Kashani, Mik Mitchell and Liz Williams. Residency at 821. Asheville, North Carolina. June 2024
  • “What is in The Drinking Water: Writing Environmental Poetry After the Film.” Curated by Aliah Lavonne Tigh, this screening of the film by Southern conservationist filmmaker, Tiffany Westry Womack, was coupled with a community ecopoetics writing exercise based on the film. Residency at 821. Asheville, North Carolina. June 2024
  • "Fire Ritual for a New Future." Ritual written and documented for “Breathing in the Time of Disaster,” a community healing art installation by Ching-In Chen and Cassie Mira. Jack Straw Cultural Center, Fall/Winter 2022 Weren’t We Natural Swimmers. Graduate Thesis completed with Mentor Ari Banias. 2020. Antioch University.
  • “Our Other Foreign Policy: Navigating Power and Language, Economy and Identity, Inside the Contemporary American Poetry Community.” Graduate Critical Dissertation, May 2020. Antioch University.
  • “Civil Oppression and Human Security in Oil-rich Iran.” Researcher and author of project. Human Securities Study with Mient Jan Faber. University of Houston, Fall 2011.
  • A Body Fully. University of Houston Honors Thesis. Directed by Dr. Martha Serpas and defended May 2011.

Service Activities

  • PVAMU GULF COAST SCHOLARS PROGRAM Fall 2025-Present
  • Faculty Team Member ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND PROGRAMS, Spring 2024-2026
  • Team for Conference’s South West Asian North African Caucus, 2025 ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND PROGRAMS, Spring 2024-2026
  • Annual Director of the Conference’s South West Asian North African Caucus, 2024
  • SIMURGH ARTS, Houston, TX October 2024-Present
  • Mixed Arts Organization Championing Gulf Coast and Southern Artists
  • Director and Founder ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND PROGRAMS, Summer 2024
  • 2025 Conference Proposal Selection and Review
  • English and Humanities Assessment Committee PRAIRE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY Spring 2025-Present
  • MFA for Creative Writing Development Committee PRAIRE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY Spring 2025-Present

Grants & Awards

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