Nayyirah Waheed

After finding it difficult to first publish salt., Waheed decided to self-publish even though her work was highly criticized at the time. Her poems in salt. have become famous through her social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram. Her poetry in salt. revolves around the themes of love, identity, race, and feminism, and are categorized by her use of punctuation, lowercase letters, and the brevity of her words. Her second book of poetry, Nejma, was published in 2014. Both salt. and Nejma have become highly praised and studied in schools. Waheed has accused poet Rupi Kaur of plagiarism, a charge Kaur denies. However, Kaur has stated she takes inspiration from Waheed.

salt. has been described as "lines filled with force and grit" and a "collection of thoughts that build to a quiet crescendo against all the forces of racism, misogyny and xenophobia." Her poetry has been praised for calling "out to care for what is most imperiled, and how words can keep us going." Jet Magazine said that her poetry will make readers want to re-evaluate their lives "as each poem breaks down your emotions and leaves you picking them up off the floor, piece by piece. While her work was originally criticized for not following the more traditional rules of poetry, fans of Waheed's work praise her use of full stops and two to three lined poems.