Aja Monet Bacquie (/ˈɑːʒə moʊˈneɪ/ AH-zhə moh-NAY;[1][2] sometimes stylized in all lowercase)[3][4] is an American contemporary poet, writer, lyricist and activist based in Los Angeles, California.

[5] She created the club SABA, Students Acknowledging Black Achievements,[5] and got involved with the organization, Urban Word NYC, who taught Monet that poetry could be a career.

She remembers the pain she felt watching the heads of young Black boys being lowered into the backs of police cars, the anger that rose up when officers would "taunt" her uncle and brother during their patrols through her neighborhood.

[19] In 2015, Monet spoke at a vigil for the #SayHerName movement, which was assembled by New York's African American Policy Forum to raise awareness about women victims of police brutality, and their erasure.

[23] In 2021, with Smoke Signals Collective, Monet released "The FREE Tape, a hip-hop-forward, self-described "soundtrack for liberation" made in conjunction with the group's many singers, poets and multi-instrumentalists.

"[24] In 2023, Monet released her debut album, when the poems do what they do, featuring Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Samora Pinderhughes, Marcus Gilmore, Lonnie Holley, Eryn Allen Kane, and Novena Carmel.

[25][26] The album received a four star rating from Jazzwise, which wrote, "Monet's spoken word poems variously thrill, challenge seduce and bring joy".

"[5] Pitchfork granted the LP a 7.4 rating and wrote that the record expands on Monet's previous works, "taking us through storm-battered homes and jump rope competitions as she explores Black joy and the blight of capitalism.

[35] In 2019, VOICES partnered with Exchange for Change, a nonprofit that offers classes on a variety of topics at several Florida prisons, to hold poetry workshops for incarcerated writers.

During the gathering, Monet speaks, "We sit in a sea of settlements / While the sound of suffering / Sails lost in the listening / As the voices of heartache hail / The power of presence / People as portals / Passports to heaven / Here is a protest in the form of a prayer."

The flashmob video's caption explains, "a historic trip to Palestine, freedom fighters from Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, New York, Ferguson, and Atlanta were able to witness firsthand the effects of Israeli apartheid and occupation, and to learn from the people who are actively resisting on the front lines.

The reading featured Shadia Mansour, Remi Kanazi, Tahani Salah, Amir Sulaiman, Tef Poe, Frank Waln, Dareen Tatour, Hala Alyan, Tariq Luthun, Ahmad Abuznaid, and Mohammed El Kurd.

[45] She wrote the foreword for Mohammed El-Kurd's debut collection of poetry, Rifqa, written in the tradition of Ghassan Kanfani's Palestinian Resistance Literature.

[46] In October 2023, Monet signed an open letter to US president Joe Biden of artists calling for a ceasefire of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.