Ever been called a Coconut 🥥 or a Banana 🍌? No, not the yummy tropical fruit, but the racial slur.

Reclaiming the pejorative word in her upcoming book “Coconut” is Nisha Patel – a self proclaimed queer, fat, femme, disabled poet laureate and artist of color. A poetry slam champion, poetry publishing house founder, writer in residence at a library, and prolific public performer, what really makes Nisha a badass is not her awe-inspiring array of accomplishments, but her clear sense of self, her strength in the face of asshat haters, and her indomitable spirit.

From wrangling with racism, sexism, and ableism to just living as an artist with Asian immigrant parents, Nisha tackles it all – with uncompromising candor and inimitable style.

Learn more at nishapatel.ca
Facebook: anothernisha
Instagram: anothernisha
Twitter: anothernisha

Nisha’s book comes out April 1, 2021! Read an excerpt HERE or ORDER HERE for US listeners.

“In her debut collection, Canadian National Slam Champion Nisha Patel commands her formidable insight and youthful, engaged voice to relay experiences of racism, sexuality, empowerment, grief, and love. These are vitally political, feminist poems for young women of colour, with bold portrayals of confession, hurt, and healing.

Coconut rises fiercely like the sun. These poems bestow light and warmth and the ability to witness the world, but they ask for more than basking; they ask readers to grow and warn that they can be burnt. Above all, Nisha Patel’s work questions and challenges propriety and what it means to be a good woman, second-generation immigrant, daughter, consumer, and lover.”