sarwat rumi is a bilingual Bengali American Muslim who has been writing creatively since she could read. she has a B.A. in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. sarwat works toward social justice as a vigilante poet, teaching artist, and performance activist.

with mango tribe, sarwat has co-written and performed in both the Chicago and NYC runs of the full length production, Sisters in the Smoke (2002, 2003); she also co-wrote, co-produced and acted in Bombs and Butterflies for NYC’s Henry Street Settlement (2004). she is the recipient of a Fresh Ink recognition for new music by Serpent Feline, granted by The Chicago Composer’s Forum (2005).

sarwat’s indy features include Voices of Resistance (2001-2007), the Asian American Jazz Festival (2004), Women OutLoud (2003, 2004), and the Guild Complex, where she humbly shared the stage with Adrienne Rich (2003). sarwat is currently finding her best magic in a collaboration called moshari: snapshots from home, a weaving of live poetry, prose, song and sitar that reveals the many layers of home, family, spirits, love, prayer and the daily striving to remain authentic and safe in a misogynistic, homophobic world.

sarwat’s craft as solo artist, sister in the touring cast of mango tribe, and vocalist for Serpent Feline, takes her far from Chicago on a regular basis, but her words can always be found in the anthology Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith, and Sexuality (Seal Press, 2006), and her two chapbooks: the inverted sun, and WAR.

praise for sarwat rumi:

"...Rumi's words often take on formidable subjects - from pre-emptive wars to serial rape - in unblinking fashion. Yet Rumi is as much musician as poet, the amber tone of her voice and the lilting quality of her phrasings as disarming as any this listener has heard. Combine the power of her words with the melodicism of her delivery, and you have a performer who could persuade an audience to listen raptly to just about anything."

- Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune arts critic