Zeina Azzam is a Palestinian American poet, writer, editor, and community activist. Her full-length poetry collection, Some Things Never Leave You, was published in 2023 by Tiger Bark Press. Her chapbook, Bayna Bayna, In-Between, was released in 2021 by The Poetry Box, which nominated one of her poems for the prestigious Pushcart Prize (she garnered another Pushcart nomination the following year for another poem). 

Azzam's poetry is also published in over sixty literary journals, edited volumes, anthologies, and art exhibition catalogs. An active member of the Poetry Society of Virginia, she regularly participates in local and national poetry readings.

Azzam’s professional career includes 27 years at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, where she was Director of Educational Outreach to K-12 teachers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She has also worked as an editor of academic and think-tank publications and serves as a mentor for We Are Not Numbers, a writing program for youth in Gaza. 

She holds an M.A. in Arabic literature from Georgetown University, an M.A. in sociology from George Mason University, and a B.A. in psychology from Vassar College. 

Zeina Azzam receives a proclamation of appreciation by the Mayor and City Council, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. 

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The City of Alexandria’s Poet Laureate program was established through the Office of the Arts to promote appreciation of poetry as an art form; to encourage creative writing and reading of all forms of literature; and to promote literacy through poetry.

Learn more about the Poet Laureate Program here.