Zaji Cox has been creating stories since she started reading at age three, discovering her passion for writing when she wrote her first short story at nine years old. She began to seriously consider it as she went on to write and self-publish a fantasy adventure novel by the time she was thirteen, later writing a collection of short stories for her high school senior project in 2012 that she self-published in a compilation book in 2016. She was the winner in the poetry category of Submission PDX’s reading series in 2020, and she has been invited to participate in several events including the PDX Poetry Festival, Survival of the Feminist reading series, Corporeal Writing’s LOOP, the 50th annual Northwest Folklife Festival, and XRAY FM's Amplify Women teach-in for International Women's Day. She holds a BA in English, and her writing can be found in Pathos Literary Magazine, Entropy Magazine, The Portland Metrozine, Cultural Daily, CARE Covid Art REsource, 2020: The Year of the Asterisk (released October 2021 from University of Hell Press) and others. Her memoir, Plums for Months (formerly titled The Gresham House), was released from Forest Avenue Press in May of 2023.
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Zaji is also a trained dancer, having started in competitive gymnastics at age seven and moving on to dance in her teens. She has performed professionally with the New Mexico Ballet Company and Polaris Dance Theatre, and has been a guest dancer with various companies and live musicians both locally in Portland and out-of-state. She now focuses on solo projects and enjoys creating videos, experimenting with the combination of art forms and often blending writing and dance.
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