Keisha-Gaye Anderson is a Jamaican-born poet, writer, visual artist, and media professional based in Brooklyn, NY. Her debut poetry collection Gathering the Waters (Jamii Publishing 2014) was accepted into the Poets House Library and the National Library of Jamaica. Her second poetry collection Everything Is Necessary (Willow Books 2019) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her third poetry collection, A Spell for Living (Agape 2020), received the Editors’ Choice recognition for the Numinous Orisons, Luminous Origin Literary Award, and is a multimedia e-book, including audio poems set to music and Keisha’s original artwork. Keisha’s poetry, fiction, and essays have been widely published in national literary journals, magazines, and anthologies that include Kweli Literary Journal, Peregrine Journal, Small Axe Salon, Interviewing the Caribbean, Renaissance Noire, The Caribbean Writer, The Killens Review of Arts and Letters, Mosaic Literary Magazine, African Voices Magazine, Streetnotes: Cross-Cultural Poetics, Caribbean in Transit Arts Journal, The Mom Egg Review, and others. Keisha is a past participant of the VONA Voices and Callaloo writing workshops, a former fellow of the North Country Institute for Writers of Color, and was short-listed for the Small Axe Literary Competition. In 2018, Keisha was selected as a Brooklyn Public Library Artist in Residence. In 2021, she was presented with the Poetic Icon award by her alma mater Syracuse University. Her visual art has been featured in exhibitions nationwide and in such literary journals as The Adirondack Review, Joint Literary Magazine, and No, Dear Magazine. Keisha began her career as a journalist, having written for national consumer magazines like Psychology Today, Teen People, Black Enterprise, and Honey, and working as a producer or associate producer on documentary programming for networks like CBS, PBS, and NHK (Japanese television). She currently works as senior marketing and communications leader for a NY-based nonprofit focused on youth mental health. Keisha regularly teaches English courses across The City University of New York and also leads writing workshops for nonprofits and other organizations. She is a graduate of the Syracuse University Newhouse School and College of Arts and Sciences and holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from The City College, CUNY.
