Bashir holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as Poet Laureate, and an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she received two Hopwood Poetry Awards. She is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, residencies, prizes, and is a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, an advocacy organization and writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent and a recipient of the 2011 Aquarius Press Legacy Award, given annually in recognition of women writers of color who actively provide creative opportunities for other writers. Bashir’s book of poetry, Field Theories (Nightboat Books, 2017) won a 2018 Oregon Book Award, and Gospel, and Where the Apple Falls, were both short-listed for the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has been widely published, performed, installed, printed, screened, and experienced.