Leila Christine Nadir

Leila Christine Nadir is an artist, memoirist, and critic whose work focuses on new media culture, environmental issues, sense of place, ethnicity, and her experiences as an Afghan American. She has a BA from Syracuse University and an MA and PhD in literature from Columbia University and is a former Mellon Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow of Environmental Humanities at Wellesley College. Her writing is published by scholarly journals, literary magazines, and popular periodicals alike, including North American Review, Asian American Literary Review, American Scientist, Leonardo, Hyperallergic, and Rhizome. As co-founder of the EcoArtTech art-media collaborative with artist Cary Peppermint, Leila has presented creative projects and workshops at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, and the Neuberger Museum, and gives regular lectures worldwide. She currently teaches humanities courses in the Sustainability and Media Studies programs of the University of Rochester.

Leila's recently published memoir work revolves around her mixed-ethnicity upbringing and the colorful marriage of her Afghan, Muslim father and Slovak, Catholic mother, who together raised seven children. She credits her parents' marriage for her "high tolerance for insanity" and lack of tolerance for all sentimental clichés, especially about bicultural experiences. She is a member of the NYC-based Afghan American Artists and Writers Association.