Sumaiya Aftab Ahmed is a writer in New York. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Reveiew of Books, Volume 1 Brooklyn, and elsewhere. She is a 2025 Queens Arts Fund grantee and has received recognition from Poets & Writers, the Tin House Workshop, Periplus Mentorship Collective, and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Poet & Author Fellowship. As a lawyer, she has represented political and gender-based asylees with a New York City legal aid organization. Sumaiya holds a J.D. from Georgetown Law, an M.A. from l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris, and a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University.