Dr. Amy Shimshon-Santo is a writer, teacher, and culture maker who believes that creativity is a powerful tool for personal and social transformation. She cultivates inclusive cultural ecologies for planetary justice.
Photo by Daion Chesney
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Testimonials
“Amy is a force to be reckoned with. She seamlessly floats, flutters, and flies within and around spheres of artistry as both a necessary expression of her soul, and as an ignition and space-holding for the authentic and sacred creative expression of those fortunate to be in any form of relationship with her. Amy’s generosity and support included deep curiosity, though-provoking inquiry, authentic affirmation and nourishing encouragement.
- Onyi Love, Artist / Healer
“La Dra. Shimshon-Santo facilita espacios multilingües y lúdicos en el que sesión a sesión nos representamos, estamos presentes a través de la creatividad, la interculturalidad, el respeto, la diversidad de idiomas y geografías.”
- Delia Chávez, Writer / Arts Administrator
“In a world often divided by borders and barriers, Dr. Amy Shimshon-Santo's multilingual reading served as a reminder of our shared humanity. IWWG was delighted to feature Amy at our global open mic - her performance was a celebration of the beauty of linguistic expression. Thank you Amy for sharing your gift with the world!”
- Michelle Providence, International Women Writer’s Guild
“Amy and I collaborated on a public reading as part of a poetry book tour. The vibrancy Amy brought to the space was one-of-a-kind; it really felt like she was channeling the divine from that lectern, weaving sonic hypnosis with deep knowledge of language, history, and religion. I would jump at the chance to work with her again.”
- Ivy Raff, Poet / Public Health Professional
Biography
Dr. Amy Shimshon-Santo is a writer, teacher, and somatic artist who believes that creativity is a powerful tool for personal and social transformation. She was born on Tovaangar land in current day Los Angeles, and has immediate family in the Southwest, the Middle East, and South America. Her art and community work nourish inclusive cultural ecologies for planetary justice.
Committed to translocal arts social practice, Amy has been a guest artist with UNESCO in Mexico, UNEB in Brazil, the PaGya! Literary Festival in Ghana, and the Lagos International Poetry Festival in Nigeria. She has also performed collaborated with arts spaces in
Amy is the author of Catastrophic Molting (Flowersong Press, 2020), Even the Milky Way is Undocumented (Unsolicited Press, 2018), and the limited edition chapbook Endless Bowls of Sky (Placeholder Press, 2020). Her essays have appeared in numerous academic journals including Urban Education, Geo Humanities, and Education, Citizenship, and Social Justice. Keep an eye out for her forthcoming ecopoetics collection Random Experiments in Bioluminescence (Flowersong Press, 2024), and Radical Piecework: Ethnographies of Place (Unsolicited Press, 2025). She has been nominated for an Emmy Award, three Pushcart Prizes in poetry and creative nonfiction, a Rainbow Reads Award, Best of the Net in Poetry, and was a finalist for the Nightboat Book Poetry Prize.
She has edited or co-edited various anthologies including: Corpos, gêneros e literatura de autoria feminina with Ana Rita Santiago and Tatiana Pequeno (Revista de Crítica Cultura, 2023); Et Al.: New Voices in Arts Management with Genevieve Kaplan (IOPN, 2020); and Arts = Education (UC Press, 2010). Amy co-lead led the equity policy work group for California’s Blueprint for Creative Schools and co-wrote the section of the report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Dr. Mary Stone Hanley.
Her creative life began in dance and capoeira and somatic practice continues to invigorate her creative practice. She has performed extensively in the U.S. through the Southwest, Northwest, New York, Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands at venues including the Kennedy Center for the Arts, St. Marks Church in the Bowery, and the Mondavi Center for the Arts. Internationally, she has performed in Singapore, Senegal, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana.
Amy co-founded the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center, and went on to teach and direct arts programs at UCLA (ArtsBridge Program) and Claremont Graduate University (Arts Management Program). For 30+ years, she has taught in universities, K-12 schools, community centers, and spaces of incarceration. Amy was recognized on the National Honor Roll for Service Learning for her contributions to Arts Education.
She earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch, and a B.A. in Latin American Studies from UC Santa Cruz.