Aris is a linguist, poet, and teacher living in Tiohtià:ke (also known as Montreal, Canada) on the unceded lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka people. They received their MA in Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2021, with a focus on language, gender, race, power, and social interaction. While at UCSB, they taught linguistic anthropology at a local high school through the SKILLS program, exchanging ideas with Latinx youth about language and race. 

 

A dedicated creative writer, Aris has publications in Canadian Notes & Queries, The New Quarterly, Plenitude Magazine and elsewhere. Their debut chapbook will be published by Ethel Press in 2022, and you can read their collage poetry on Instagram at @ambiance.queer. More recently, Aris has worked as a youth worker at YMCA Quebec, and a French teacher at a Montreal high school. 

 

Aris has white and South Asian ancestry, and is learning about their family's history as well as the roles of diasporic Asian communities in fighting white supremacy. They're excited to connect with other trans and queer South Asian artists while at Aruna.