Feminist to Know: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer, nonbinary writer, social justice activist, and community educator. They are known for having co-edited Beyond Survival, Stories and Strategies from the Transformative Justice Movement alongside Ejeris Dixon, which addresses questions about the Transformative Justice movement while detailing stories of TJ in action (and was a 2020 Provocateur book club pick!). Piepzna-Samarasinha also wrote the crip theory masterpiece, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice. She has also participated in a variety of performance art groups, including Sins Invalid, Mangos with Chili, and Toronto’s Performance/Disability/Art collective. Their work centers Disability and Transformative Justice movements, art, anti-racism, and creating safe spaces for marginalized persons (specifically people of color, disabled, and queer people). Piepzna-Samarasinha currently lives in South Seattle, Washington.