Imali J. Abala is an author and Professor of English at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of Kenya Studies Review and author of several books: Move on, Trufosa, The Disinherited, Jahenda, The Teenage Mother; Drum Bits of Terror, and Haughty Boys of Ngoroke. Her book-length poem, a poetic novella, The Dreamer, was nominated for the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 2017.

She co-edited and contributed poems to In the Murk of Life: An Anthology of Poetry. Some of her poems have been translated into Russian (Radar Magazine), appeared in Musings During a Pandemic, Kistretch Journal, Out of Depths: Poetry of Poverty, Courage, and Resilience, Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories and Poems from East Africa, A Thousand Voices Rising: An Anthology of African Poets, and Reflections: An Anthology by African Women Poets.