Nadia Alexis is the new Literary Arts instructor for the Mississippi School of the Arts.

The New York City native makes the move to Brookhaven from Oxford, where she has most recently taught at The University of Mississippi.

Born to Haitian immigrants in Harlem, Alexis is a poet, photographer, educator and organizer. She has a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Union College, where she also studied Africana Studies and French. She will complete her doctorate degree from Ole Miss in English this summer, with a concentration in creative writing. She also has a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the university, where she teaches Black literature and first-year writing courses.

Alexis has had poetry and prose published in multiple journals and publications, as well as photography. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net Anthology and the 2020 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in photography. Among many other awards, Alexis has received poetry fellowships from the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, The Watering Hole and an independent study program with Carrie Mae Weems.

Her photography has been exhibited in Oxford, Detroit, and Havana, Cuba, as well as the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in Harlem.