E. Hughes is the author of two collections of poetry: Another Way to Say Dying (Autumn House Press 2027), which won the 2026 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize and Ankle-Deep in Pacific Water (Haymarket Books, 2024), which was longlisted for the 2025 Maya Angelou Book Award. Hughes is a graduate fellow of Cave Canem and a former Friends of the San Francisco Public Library Laureate.

Hughes received their MFA in Poetry and MA in English Literature from the Litowitz Creative Writing Program at Northwestern University. Currently, Hughes is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at Emory University.