Short third-person bio for my opps:
Roshan Abraham is a writer and reporter in Queens.
Long first-person bio for the virtuous:
I am a journalist and essayist based in Queens, NY. I’ve written extensively about city policy, including prisons and policing, housing and homelessness for outlets including The Guardian, The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Baffler, Village Voice, The Verge and more. A former staff writer covering the housing beat for Vice, I am currently Contributing Editor for Housing and Homelessness at Next City.
Some pieces I’m proud of include this months-long investigation into a “security deposit alternative” startup that was scamming renters. I spent a year in touch with a man who was recently released from 17 years of solitary confinement and spoke to experts in the field to describe the permanent psychological effects he and others face.
This piece revealed that Los Angeles homeless sweeps were heavily-policed, despite being branded as voluntary. More than a few people have reached out to me about this profile of a city-sanctioned, self-run homeless encampment in Portland, Oregon. I’m also proud of this piece on New Jersey’s 50-year-old legal decision that every town must build its fair share of affordable housing.
And I travelled to São Paulo, Brazil, and spoke to residents of some of the city’s best-known socialist-run squats.
I’m a member of Freelance Solidarity Project, the digital media division of the National Writers Union, where I help lead a working group on legislation for funding news.
I am a former Open City Fellow and Witness Fellow at the Asian American Writers Workshop and a former Equitable Cities Fellow at Next City. My reporting has been supported by grants from Solitary Watch and Freelance Investigative Reporters and Editors.
I also write fiction and poetry and curate literary events in NYC; from 2016-2018, I hosted Final Fantasy Reading Series, a literary performance series based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I now curate and host the Open World writing workshop series.
I’m working on a nonfiction book proposal about decolonization, land reform and housing movements in the 20th century, as well as a collection of short stories.
If you want to say hi you can email me at Roshan dot Abraham at Gmail or follow me on twitter. I also have a newsletter that is about what I’m reading, thinking about, and listening to.