Inshirah Mahal
Yogi, musician, poet, dancer. She is an educator, passionate for human rights and non-violent solutions. She has lived the journey of a little black girl from Bridgeport, Connecticut, in pre-civil rights America, who learned to see the world from a unique perspective in what she calls, ‘the time of lightning bolts.’ She has found liberation as a woman of the world, and uses that freedom to speak for others, as if she were holding the lightning in her hand.
Inshirah won a scholarship out of the inner city to Scripps College in Claremont, California. She finished a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Dance, at Scripps. Then, she went on to complete her graduate studies in education at the University of California, Berkeley.
Inshirah has taught music, dance and theatre in the Kauai public schools, and at the Kauai Arts Academy, in Kauai, Hawaii. She opened One Light Gallery and Bookstore in Old Koloa Town, where she taught yoga, sold metaphysical books and art, and hosted monthly poetry readings. It was at One Light Gallery and Bookstore that One Light Publishing was conceived.
The Gryffin and the Boy is One Light Publishing’s first book. It represents a major milestone in her poetic journey, transforming one of her poems into a moving and glorious, self-illustrated, children's book. It is a story of healing from war and loss, for a boy and a gryffin. It is dedicated to children suffering from the ravages of war and domestic violence.
The Holy War In a Glass Jar is a sequence of poems which gives insight into these difficult times, exploring conflict, and spiritual healing. This work reflects her lifelong study of transformation. She is guided by a muse who turns the "real world" into wisdom and music while she is singing, dancing and breathing through life's challenges.
“Poetry, to me, is not just a form of expression—it is the breath of life, a constant presence throughout my journey through conscious awareness.”