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"I write darkness to draw attention to the light."

Blair Nishkian was born and raised in a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains. She grew up in a home built by the hands of her parents. Her father was an artist and philosopher, while her mother was a carpenter. She grew up in a subculture of aging civil rights activists and a tight-knit, small mountain community.

In her time, her experiences with debilitating mental illness in both herself, friends, and family members led her down the path of an artist. It has always been her dream to explore the depths of consciousness through fiction and thus cultivate understanding between human beings.

She is inspired by the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mo Yan, Angela Carter, Jim Henson, Neal Stephenson, Wu Cheng'en, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Jack London, Tolkien, Jane Austen, Melville, and poets in general.

 

In terms of philosophy, she loves the Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi, conducting augury with three coins and Yi Jing hexagrams, and listening to/reading Alan Watts deep cuts.

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For two years, she was a preschool teacher in Zhengzhou, China. There, she spent time immersing herself in local culture and learning Mandarin -- she also met her wife. The two now live in a small home in Washington state.

She has an MFA in fiction and has studied directly under authors and poets such as Patricia Smith, Caitlyn R. Kiernan, Ben Percy, Gayle Brandeis, and Alan Heathcock.

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She has been accused by Patricia Smith as being a poet disguised as a novelist. Blair has not yet shaken those allegations.

Blair has had short stories published in both the Meat for Tea: The Valley Review and Artwife magazines. Her poetry has been featured in Monkey Puzzle.