Khadijah Queen
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khadijahqueen.com
Khadijah Queen
@khadijahqueen.com
1.2K followers 440 following 170 posts
Doctor of poems. In my crone era.

https://www.khadijahqueen.com/

linktr.ee/authorKQ
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khadijahqueen.com
You’re invited to my master class on how to finish your book, based on my 25 years of writing experience. For all of that time, I have been working and caregiving and writing at the same time. I love sharing what I’ve learned. Two scholarships are available: www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/mast...
October 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
khadijahqueen.com
New Substack: I wrote about a surprise Corvette, a Jesmyn Ward novel, and the spirit of my dad--

authorkqueen.substack.com/p/on-the-ver...
On the verge of being obscene, part 1, A Travel Report authorkqueen.substack.com A red corvette stingray with black and silver accents, parked on a tree-lined street A black man with light skin and silver hair and sunglasses, smiling, standing on one foot showing off his Jordans and his silver Porsche 911 cabriolet, in front of a California mountain and blue sky
September 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Passing by my old house, and my old neighborhood, made me feel euphoric today despite the state of the world. I’ve felt so unexpectedly at home. But now that it’s evening and quiet, I’m missing my father so much. He loved L.A. It is far from perfect but now I love it anew. Tomorrow: the beach 🩵🌴☀️
A concrete and iron gate in front of a house and a bunch of greenery The corner of Crenshaw & King, Los Angeles California, on a sunny day in traffic. A sign at a stoplight reads: In honor of Malcolm X The metro station at King blvd by the Crenshaw mall with a car and two giant palm trees
August 28, 2025 at 4:07 AM
khadijahqueen.com
I’m still alive. The earth is still alive. Language is still alive. If you can’t find any beauty where you are, you can still make it.

Took 20 years to get this story out. I hope you’ll read it 💙🩵

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/khadi...
Image of Khadijah in a cozy living room, wearing a red and white flowered dress with white buttons and a V-neck and 3/4 sleeves. Her skin is brown, her hair is salt and pepper and curly, her lipstick is red and she is smiling. Image of a purple flowering tree in front of blue sky, and a home with a tiled roof Khadijah‘s book, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran’s Memoir, which has a dark blue cover with turquoise and lilac lettering, on top of colorful tiles. The background tile colors are dark, blue, yellow, green, orange and beige, mostly
August 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Some healing color 💚🩷🧡💜💙

I have slept on the power of good Vietnamese food. Never again 🍵🌴☀️
Spring rolls with colorful radishes on a clear plate sitting on the lap of someone wearing a turquoise dress One tiny palm tree on the left, two giant palm trees intertwined on the right A colorful wild garden. Green plants and purple, pink, white and fuchsia flowers. Vegetable spring roll on a white plate with a container of chili sauce, and a bowl of vegetable pho with gold utensils on a wooden table
August 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Ugh typos above

Anyway here’s another of the ships. I think it’s actually the one captained by Adm Nelson? Need to check, it’s been 6 years
18th/19th c ship in Portsmouth England. Three masts and three cannon decks. A sculpture of a man and dog in front. Gorgeous clouds and blue sky
August 12, 2025 at 6:41 PM
khadijahqueen.com
I’m in Seattle tonight! I’ll be talking to the brilliant Jodi-Ann Burey about the memoir. 🩵💙

These are a couple shots of one of the 19th century ships that I was saw when I was researching in Portsmouth, England at the Naval shipyard.
Flyer for tonight‘s reading in Seattle. Headshot of Khadijah and Burey, who will be leading the Q&A. Tonight at 7 PM. Third Place Books Ravenna 19th century ship docked in Portsmouth, England Another angle of the 19th century ship, with the tall white modern Portsmouth shipyard sculpture to the left and a cloudy sky behind them both
August 12, 2025 at 6:33 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Book mail! This gorgeous and fierce collection from a new-to-me poet, Jason Allen-Paisant

milkweed.org/book/thinkin...
Thinking with Trees: Poems by Jason Allan-Paisant. The cover has a giant tree covering most of it with a backdrop of mountains and pink clouds. Khadijah is holding the book in front of a painting with figures and lines from artist Kellems in turquoise, purple, pink, and red. It looks like beading. Back cover of Thinking with Trees: Poems by Jason Allan-Paisant. It is brown with beige and yellow text. Khadijah wrote a back blurb, along with francine j. harris and Kei Miller. Khadijah is holding the book in front of a painting with figures and lines from artist Kellems in turquoise, purple, pink, and red. It looks like beading.
August 6, 2025 at 8:24 PM
khadijahqueen.com
I had an intense (and fun!) conversation with fellow #veteran Michael Jerome Plunkett about my book, gender, and who institutions are built to serve. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...
LitWar podcast splash page. Burgundy background. Khadijah Queen on the right (glasses, brown skin, curly gray hair), old school typewriter on the bottom left with paper reading LW31: Khadijah Queen
August 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM
khadijahqueen.com
She’s here! Order from your favorite bookseller! Leave a review, tag me in your photos! Reserve a copy at the library! I’ve got her in the woods today and reading tonight. Raise a cup of tea (or a shot of whisky) for us 💙🩵💜

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/khadi...
Khadijah‘s brown hand is holding her hardcover copy of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veterans memoir. There is a backdrop of a forest. On her wrist are three bracelets: two of pearl and one labradorite Turquoise, dark blue and lilac hardcover of Between the devil and the deep blue sea: A Veterans Memoir by Khadijah Queen, stood up on stone steps with greenery
August 5, 2025 at 8:15 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Day 3—
To me, this poem captures the emotional intensity we may feel related to the encroachment of environmental disaster, connecting that feeling across time and space. One thing poetry can do is bear witness. Read the full poem:
poets.org

#poetry #poemaday #andrearexilius #khadijahqueen #booksky
The Way the Language Was Andrea Rexilius The day the deer died, I was alive in my house. I was alive in a watery field of glaciers. In the realm of birchwood in my throat. The day the robins wept, the day foxes ran from the woods on fire
July 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Day Two—
“A Poem About Home” by @bettinajudd is an image-rich lesson on what we can use our hands to nurture or ignore, heal or harm—mundane physical knowledge, aimed internally or externally. Read the full poem: poets.org/poem-a-day
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#poetry #poemaday #booksky #poem #bettinajudd #khadijahqueen
A Poem about Home Bettina Judd I learned to chop from the hand. The onion a palm-cupped moon sliced by a blade almost grazing thenar eminence. Was trained well before YouTube and Top Chef told me I had it all wrong, before my cousin went to culinary school and brought back the gospel of tucking fingers on cutting boards about this poem “This poem began as a meditation on learning how to cook and the danger cooking navigates. As I wrote it, the notion of risk expanded beyond the kitchen and then returned to the home.” —Bettina Judd Black and white image of Bettina Judd, looking pensive with a hand on her cheek and hair coiled artfully across her forehead
July 2, 2025 at 11:35 AM
khadijahqueen.com
Day One—

A haunting poem by DaMaris Hill that I chose for its depth and intensity, its emotional connections between past and present, personal and historical. Sign up for Poem-A-Day for more 🩵

poets.org/poem-a-day
Come. Pray. Know Load audio player about come. pray. know histories. today is mother’s birthday. she insists on dying. offer her a framed memory, her maiden name clotted in a map older than “america.” she will refuse, turn away. grief sharpens the gales of wit. again, she abandons.
July 1, 2025 at 11:56 AM
khadijahqueen.com
Gearing up for a July of sharing my Poem-a-Day curation for Academy of American Poets while crafting interview questions and reading a stack of books for another project while getting some Substacks ready while going through old notebooks for something else. Too much? Probably 🤓😹 #BookSky
Row of colorful notebooks on a shelf. Somewhat organized right to left by height, with some variation
June 30, 2025 at 7:09 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Two industry reviews are in! You can pre-order here:

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/khadi...

#memoir #poet #bookreviews
´A poetic page-turner of a memoir about a black woman’s time in the Navy’ — Kirkus Reviews. Background is purple waves. Cover of Khadijah‘s memoir at the bottom. ´Throughout, Queen is by turns vulnerable and fierce, making resident observations about the complexities of war, womanhood, and perseverance. Readers will find much to admire.´ —Publishers Weekly. Background is purple waves, cover of Khadijah‘s book at the bottom.
June 25, 2025 at 9:13 AM
khadijahqueen.com
I entered my 5th decade resolved to spend more time outdoors. So far that’s been a daily walk, but sometimes—especially in these times—a more dramatic scene change is necessary.
Bright blue lagoon surrounded by trees and other greenery
June 24, 2025 at 8:26 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Just a timeline cleanse, everybody. My son made me a waffle. And officially I lived through my 40s, time traveling 🩶
A waffle drizzled with honey and two strawberries on a turquoise saucer A tiny red velvet cake with gold candles that say 50 Primordial-looking forest scene with a sea in the background that leads to mountains in the distance, and the sun beaming down from a blue sky with thin clouds The ruins of an ancient temple or Basilica with arched doorways and windows, and a crumbling gate
June 22, 2025 at 1:48 PM
khadijahqueen.com
I’ve started a Substack where I share new writing about books, music, plays, poems, travel, creativity, imagination, mothering, emotion, and the healing process. Hope to see you there. #booksky

substack.com/@authorkquee...
Autism International—article title for June 9, 2025 with a backdrop of blue sky viewed from an airplane window. Full moon in the upper R corner and a bed of white clouds at the bottom Song: A Sky Full of Stars, Coldplay The last time I flew with my son, he almost triggered an international incident. I have not told anyone about this—even family—but since we're facing another historic eugenicist moment, I thought it important to share, with my son's input and permission, a story about what can happen during a crisis when things go right. Screenshot of June 7 post, titled Channel Wonder. Image of a stormy sky behind a cityscape
June 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Good morning to these ranunculus (ranunculi?) that I will practice drawing on rice paper for today’s 2-minute sanity break
Ranunculus in a vase surrounded by buds and greenery and a fallen petal Two white and pink ranunculus in a vase surrounded by buds and greenery, one white bud partially open
April 16, 2025 at 10:40 AM
khadijahqueen.com
Just proof of life, proof of delight, love of coffee on top, healing in progress 🤎
Coffee in white and gold porcelain cups on a saucer on a wood tray with red velvet cookies and greenery and another person’s hand in the background Khadijah at a cafe holding an ornate cup of espresso. Her hair is straight, shoulder length, mostly salt and some pepper. She’s smiling in red lipstick with pearl, gold and light jade beaded bracelets. She’s wearing a white limited edition Lewis Hamilton Takashi Murakami long sleeved tee, a black shoulder brace and left arm in a blue sling
March 11, 2025 at 10:34 AM
khadijahqueen.com
Foxes come to say hello every day 🦊💚🦊 One is awfully wounded, but healing
Two foxes in a yard under a tree in front of a fence and a bench in the sun. One is looking directly at the camera and a wounded one is curled into a ball. A wounded fox, taking a nap in the sun on a nest of branches in front of a wall of Ivy I wounded fox in the backyard. Looks at the camera, ears perked up. Behind it is an Ivy covered brick wall and some windows with white trim.
February 27, 2025 at 12:27 PM
khadijahqueen.com
When Dr. Bettina Judd kindly asked me how I wanted folks to celebrate this book, I had no answer. Between my dad getting sick and all the ongoing world crises, plus writing and teaching and parenting and health management, I haven’t done any event organizing. What I would love:
January 10, 2025 at 6:08 AM
khadijahqueen.com
I was editing my memoir, filling in scenes from L.A. when I learned about the fires. I’ve lived in so many places, but I always claim my city when people ask where I’m from. Heartbroken for everyone, for my friends, for the plants, trees, animals…

Sharing some good memories here, and so much love 💙
Flyover view of Los Angeles, 2015 Fuchsia flowers amid the greenery, in Marina del Rey 2019 Palm trees lining Angeles Vista blvd, bright blue sky backdrop, 2015 Ten writers facing the camera, in a palm-filled yard backdropped by the L.A. skyline, all dressed in white, 7 standing and three seated. From a reading organized by Khadijah Queen. L to R: Kima Jones, Natalie Graham, Hannah Sanghee Park, Ashaki Jackson, Jean Ho, Angela Fluornoy, Kate Durbin. Seated L to R: Khadijah, Elisabeth Houston, Lilliam Rivera. June 2015.
January 9, 2025 at 1:23 PM
khadijahqueen.com
New year / new skies / new book on deck 🩵🩷🧡💙
Book cover for Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Mathias Énard. Image is of a large pink cloud in a blue sky over the city of Florence in 16th c. A large curved black paint stroke covers the middle of the cloud. First page of Énard’s novel
January 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
khadijahqueen.com
Just thinking about this gorgeous full moon, the night before my birthday in 2022 🖤🤍🩶🤍🩷
Full moon at night over the Bay of Angels, Nice, France Full moon at dusk over the Bay of Angels, Nice, France
December 3, 2024 at 5:25 PM