Ashanti Files

Ashanti Files was born in Chicago. She earned a BA in nursing from Chamberlain College and a BA in political science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Files is the author of Woven: Perspectives of a Black Woman (2019), which she self-published. In 2021, she released Awaken2, a personal workbook that promotes self-reflection on identity and emotional regulation.

Files’s work has appeared in the Krannert Art Museum exhibit Pandemics as a Portal to Change, and Poet’s Choice Realm of Emotions (Poet’s Choice, 2021), among other publications. 

Files has been selected as a Martha’s Vineyard Voices of Color Poet Fellow, as well as a presenter at the National Guild for Community Arts Educators Ground Work 2021 Conference. She has been awarded a grant from the Urbana Arts and Culture Program for three consecutive years, as well as an Illinois Humanities grant for her program, Writers of Oya. In 2021, she was named Best Mentor and Advocate for Young Poets by SmilePolitely arts blog.

In 2021, Files was appointed Urbana, Illinois poet laureate and has led numerous workshops and programs that address the impact of identity on mental health.

Files currently resides in Chandler, Arizona where she is a registered nurse working for the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Center for Resilience and Wellbeing. In 2022, Files received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.