Mahta Riazi is a poet, community worker, and educator living in Tkaronto (Toronto). She is the winner of the 2022 Briarpatch Writing in the Margins contest, and her poetry and short fiction have been shortlisted for the Vallum Poetry Award. Riazi is inspired by and indebted to the poetry of Solmaz Sharif, Forough Farrokhzad, Hala Alyan, and Hieu Minh Nguyen, among others. Her poetry, essays, and short fiction have appeared in Plenitude Magazine, Acta Victoriana, Yolk, Bahr, and Brickplight. Her chapbook, Parastoo, was published in June 2022 by Cactus Press.
Forough Farrokhzad Folio
Summer 2025
Sleep
The Kenyon Review · “Sleep’ by Mahta Riazi I sleep thinking of maman every night, of orange peels. She calls twice a day the first week and asks for every […]
Forough Farrokhzad Folio
Summer 2025
Ali
The Kenyon Review · “Ali” by Mahta Riazi Ey Ali, ey Ali-ye divooneh.The poem comes down to a hideous question:Did Ali throw himself in the water? Or was he pulled?Was […]