Salimah Valiani is a poet, activist, and researcher. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, of a Ugandan mother and Tanzanian father, like her parents, Salimah left home in her late teenage years and began a journey of study and work that included extended stays in Montreal, Quebec; London (UK); New York City and Binghamton (USA); Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario; and Cape Town, South Africa. She has published four collections of poetry: breathing for breadth (2005);

Letter Out: Letter In (2009); land of the sky (2016); and Cradles (2017). Her latest publication is the poem-story," Dear South Africa," one of seven pieces in Praxis Magazine's 2019-2020 Chapbook Series.