Mona Arshi was born to Punjabi Sikh parents in West London where she still lives. She initially trained as a lawyer and worked for Liberty, the UK human rights organisation for several years, undertaking test case litigation under the Human Rights Act. She began writing poetry in 2008 and received a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. She won the inaugural Magma Poetry competition in 2011 and was on the Complete Works Program, a scheme funded by the Arts Council. Mona was joint winner of the Manchester Creative writing poetry prize in 2014.

'Small Hands is a brimming miscellany of poems. [A] prominent and enjoyable aspect of Arshi’s work is its sensuality and awareness of the body; this is a collection full of hands, feet, mouths, lips, eyes, wrists, hair and, ubiquitously, skin. [...] Arshi combines a liking for obliqueness, sometimes even coolness, with a desire to push what language can do and a willingness to experiment with form.' Martyn Crusifix

• The LionEntomological SpecimensPracticing Your SkillsInsomniacWhat Every Girl Should Know Before MarriageTasterBad Day in the OfficeYou Are NotMy Mother’s HairThe Gold Bangles‘Jesus Saves’TickingOn Ellington RoadCousin MigrantThe DaughtersDifferent Principles of EnclosureDay GhostThis MorningThe BirdAlmost SeptemberPhone Call on a Train JourneySmall HandsIn the Coroner’s OfficeApril18th of NovemberNotes Towards an ElegyThe UrnThe Rain That Began ElsewhereGlovesMy Father Wants to be a Rooftop Railway SurferGhazalGhazalOde to a PomegranateBulbulParvarti waits for the return of Shiva, after the slaying of GaneshLost PoemLarge and Imprecise BabyWiremanBarbuleThe Found ThingWoman at WindowMr Beeharry’s Marriage BureauMrs M UnravelsBallad of the Small-Boned DaughterHummingbird