Sobia Ahmad
Art Coach & Book Artist
Sobia Ahmad is an interdisciplinary artist who is interested in the intersection of art and social impact. She mentored the youth in development of art for the book I Am the Night Sky and she created the cover image and author portraits for Stubborn Roots. Born and raised in Pakistan, Ahmad moved to the United States at the age of fourteen. After attending the University of Maryland, College Park and receiving a BA in Studio Art and a BS in Behavioral and Community Health, she worked with the Montgomery County government as a Behavioral Health Program Coordinator. There, she developed mental health educational materials and programming for minorities while practicing as an interdisciplinary artist. Currently, she balances her time as an artist and leads art and wellness workshops at various arts and community centers in the DC-area, sharing her passion for art as a tool for both personal and societal transformation. Ahmad's artwork investigates how social, cultural, and political forces shape personal narratives and community experiences. Her recent body of work grapples with nuances and complexities of the idea of home as an immigrant. Her work been reviewed in several major publications such as Al Jazeera English, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post and has been included in multiple collections. She has exhibited internationally— including at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in New York, and Queen Mary University in London. Recently, she was awarded an artist fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center, is the 2019 recipient of the yearlong Next Generation/Sanctuary Artist Fellowship at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland, and is a 2019-2020 Halcyon Arts Lab Fellow in Washington DC. For recent projects, visit: https://www.sobiaahmad.com
Sobia Ahmad coached and illustrated:
Available for preorder — product will ship Oct 27 2026
By the young writers of Shout Mouse Press
"The poems and essays in Stubborn Roots have changed me in ways I was unprepared for. The profundity of their observations of the world, and of themselves, left me in awe. This is a special book filled with special writers." —Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed
This powerful anthology illuminates today’s activist experience through the poetry and essays of our most vital and essential youth.
Through compelling poetry, 18 young writers of color plant their resistance in the soil of our uncertain future. They tackle disparities across lines of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, ableism and fatphobia, immigration and the environment, and more. Their poems are accompanied by portraits of each poet (by cover artist Sobia Ahmad) along with first-person essays on what liberation means to them.
Diverse voices and styles shine throughout Stubborn Roots, providing personal and cultural context to ongoing conversations about change in the United States. Tender and green, vulnerable and wondrous, this singular book of poems serves as an urgent call to the transformative power of art and is a must-have for young readers looking to develop their connection to social justice.
Foreword by Camonghne Felix, author of Let the Poets Govern.
ISBN: 9781950807901
Age: 12+
Page Count: 220
Coming Fall 2026