Emily is a mixed race Egyptian-American writer previously published in Mizna, Running Dog, Art of Nothing, Plentitudes, Sienna Solstice, and others. She is a James Michener Fellow and the 2025 recipient of the Lester Goran Award at the University of Miami Department of English & Creative Writing. She has contributed to Tupelo Press’ 30/30 Project and attended workshops at the University of Miami, 24 Pearl St, and Tin House. She is often inspired by myths, fairytales, film, television, and animals, and explores issues of mental health, coming-of-age, heritage, and family within her work. She enjoys going to the Everglades on her weekends off from school, and painting and illustrating.

On Distance is her debut collection of poetry, once a finalist in the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize in 2019, and now published by Elyssar Press,“blending myth and modernity, these poems explore myth-making, love, and the search for home. Ahmed reminds us that stories are life-saving acts of meaning-making, myths we return to for empathy and guidance. With lyrical grace and striking clarity, On Distance reveals how myth, memory, and survival intertwine to illuminate the distances we live and love through.” –Elyssar Press