Raychelle Heath has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina. She is also a certified Kripalu Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Mind Body Meditation instructor. Learn more about Raychelle’s work here. Morgan Christie’s work has appeared in Room, Aethlon, BLF Press, and other journals, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut full-length collection These Bodies (Tolsun Publishing, 2020) has received early praise from Poets and Writers, Foreword Review, Sante Fe Writers Project, and others. To usher in the new year, join our co-founders Faith & Serena and Buddhist teacher & writer Mushim Patricia Ikeda of East Bay Meditation Center for a special meditation and writing session! BIPOC Writing Party welcomes special guest host Kazim Ali on Monday, December 14. Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has live transnationally in teh United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including several volumes of poetry, novels, and translations. He is currently a Professor of … Continue reading The BIPOC Writing Party welcomes Xandria Phillips as guest co-host Monday December 7, 2020. Xandria Phillips is a writer, abstract artist, and educator from rural Ohio. The recipient of the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging Writers, and a LAMBDA Literary Award for their book HULL (Nightboat Books 2019), Xandria has received fellowships from Cave … Continue reading On Monday, April 20, 2020, FAITH ADIELE, @meetingfaith and SERENA W. LIN @serena.w.lin welcomed our guest co-host for the week, none other than the famously funny comedian, unabashed extrovert, and inspirational artist . . . ZAHRA NOORBAKHSH @ZahraComedy. Get to know Zahra at zahracomedian.com. On Monday, May 11, 2020, we welcomed celebrated writer and artist Anastacia Renee as our guest co-host! Faith Adiele and I were excited to feature 2 writing prompts by Renee. On Monday, May 18, 2020, we welcomed Tomas Moniz, author of Big Familia, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway & Lambda Literary Award, as our guest co-host! Join us on June 22, 2020, as we welcome Caroline Mar, author of Special Education,2019 Winner of the X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, as our guest host! Special Education is available for pre-order from Texas A&M Univ Press and releases in October. We all know how important pre-orders are for books, especially first books, so grab your copy now and … Continue reading Keenan Norris is the author of Brother and the Dancer and By the Lemon Tree and the editor of Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape. His short fiction appears in the anthologies Oakland Noir, Inlandia: A Journey Through the Literature of Southern California’s Inland Empire and San Bernardino, Singing. You can learn more about Keenan’s work at keenannorris.com. Deesha Philyaw will be joining us as guest host on Monday, July 6! Deesha’s debut collection of short stories The Secret Lives of Church Ladies about Black women, sex, and the Black church is available for pre-order. Deesha Philyaw is the co-author of Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Two Households After Divorce, written in … Continue reading F. Douglas Brown is the author of two poetry collections, ICON (Writ Large Press, 2018), and Zero to Three (University of Georgia, 2014), winner of the 2013 Cave Canem Poetry Prize selected by US Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith. He also co-authored with poet Geffrey Davis, Begotten (URB Books, 2016),a chapbook of poetry as part of the … Continue reading Devi S. Laskar will be joining us on Monday, July 20 as guest host! Laskar is the author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues, winner of 7th annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize (2020) for best debut novel set in the South, winner of the 2020 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association; selected by The Georgia … Continue reading Julian Talamantez Brolaski will be joining us on Monday, July 27, 2020 as guest host! Julian is the author of Of Mongrelitude (Wave Books 2017), Advice for Lovers (City Lights Publishers, 2012) and gowanus atropolis (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2011), and coeditor of NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards (Litmus Press, 2009). Julian is the lead singer of … Continue reading Melissa Valentine is an award-winning writer from Oakland, CA. Her memoir, The Names of All the Flowers, was the recipient of the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Jezebel, and Apogee, among others. Susan Ito co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption (North Atlantic Books) and am a creative nonfiction co-editor at Literary Mama. I wrote a column there called “Life in the Sandwich.” My work has appeared in Hip Mama, CHOICE, Growing Up Asian American, The Bellevue Literary Review, Making More Waves, the Kartika Review and elsewhere. I write and teach at … Continue reading Ajuan Mance is a Professor of African American literature at Mills College in Oakland, California. A lifelong artist and writer, Ajuan has participated in solo and group exhibitions as well as comic and zine fests, from the Bay Area to Brooklyn. In her art, illustration, and comics, Ajuan uses humor and bright colors to explore … Continue reading Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a poet & visual artist born in Trinidad and raised in Queens, New York. The author of four collections of poetry: Raw Air, Night When Moon Follows, Convincing The Body & Arrival. Boyce-Taylor has authored a new book titled Mama Phife Represents, about the life and loss of her son, Hip Hop Legend, Phife … Continue reading Juli Delgado Lopera is an award-winning Colombian writer based in San Francisco. They’re the author of The New York Times acclaimed novel Fiebre Tropical, out March 2020 from The Feminist Press. Juli is also the author of Quiéreme (Nomadic Press 2017) and ¡Cuéntamelo! (Aunt Lute 2017) an illustrated bilingual collection of oral histories by LGBT Latinx immigrants which won a 2018 Lambda … Continue reading Minal Hajratwala wrote Leaving India: My Family’s Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents (winner of four nonfiction awards), Bountiful Instructions for Enlightenment (poetry), and the Moon Fiji travel guidebook (2019); edited Out! Stories from the New Queer India (anthology); co-founded The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective; and created Write Like a Unicorn to help writers tap their magic. She’s launching the Unicorn Authors Club to help bipoc authors … Continue reading GRITO = Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta + Vincent Toro Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta is an associate professor at the City University of New York-BCC. Her first book of poetry, Things to Pack on the Way to Everywhere, is an Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize finalist and it is forthcoming from Get Fresh Books in 2021. Recent work … Continue reading 
BIPOC Writing Community 