Learn more about our Black Writers Program.

Capital B “Black”: Writing about Blackness with Hari Ziyad*
Thursday, December 10 from 6-7:30pm

Join Editor-in-Chief of RaceBaitr and author of the upcoming memoir Black Boy Out of Time Hari Ziyad for an interactive lecture on all that it means to center Blackness in your work and professional career, particularly in a world where it can further marginalize the already marginalized. What are the unmistakable rewards? The challenges? How do you learn to be adamant and immoveable in that choice?

*PLEASE NOTE: This event is exclusive to Black writers and artists. We ask that individuals who are not Black abstain from signing up.

Click here to pre-order the memoir Black Boy Out of Time, which is set to be released on March 1, 2021.

CLICK HERE to REGISTER

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Hari Ziyad is a cultural critic, a screenwriter, the editor-in-chief of RaceBaitr, and the author of Black Boy Out of Time. They are a 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow, and their writing has been featured in BuzzFeed, Out, the Guardian, Paste magazine, and the academic journal Critical Ethnic Studies, among other publications. Previously they were the managing editor of the Black Youth Project and a script consultant on the television series David Makes Man. Hari spends their all-too-rare free time trying to get their friends to give the latest generation of R & B starlets a chance and attempting to entertain their always very unbothered pit bull mix, Khione. For more information about the author, visit www.hariziyad.com.

For all the poets out there: Our next Black Writers Program event is just for you!

Excite Strategies: Craft and Revision for Poets with Angel Nafis
Tuesday, November 17th from 7-8:30pm EST

First drafts are the seed of any great piece — but what happens after that initial burst of creativity? How do you revise a poem and know when it’s truly complete? What are the tools that all poets need to have at their disposal to craft a compelling, completed poem? Join poet Angel Nafis as she takes you through an interactive journey that answers all these questions and more!

CLICK HERE to REGISTER

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Angel Nafis is the author of BlackGirl Mansion (Red Beard Press, 2012). She earned her BA at Hunter College and her MFA in poetry at Warren Wilson College. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed Reader, them, Poetry Magazine, The BreakBeat Poets anthologies series and elsewhere. Nafis is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Millay Colony, the Poetry Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Founder and curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon, she is also half of the ODES FOR YOU Tour with poet, musician, and visual artist Shira Erlichman, and with poet Morgan Parker, she runs The Other Black Girl Collective. Reading poems and facilitating workshops across the country she lives and works in Brooklyn.

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Want to know more about future events, panels, workshops, readings and offerings from our Black Writers Program? Click here.

NY Writers Coalition (NYWC) is hosting a virtual open mic night on Friday, November 13, from 7 – 8 pm EDT hosted by Jon Sands!

ABOUT JON SANDS:

The publishing industry can be hard to decipher from the outside looking in. But how do you “get in”? Where do you start as a writer? How do you get published in the first place? Join our panelists as they walk through their experiences as Black women navigating through the publishing world, their points of access, and what it means to be a “professional” in the industry today.
This panel will feature Jennifer Baker, Kaitlyn Greenidge, & Quressa Robinson and be moderated by our Interim Program Manager, Calley Anderson.

CLICK HERE to RSVP as a guest

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ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Calley Anderson is the Interim Program Manager for NYWC and a Brooklyn-based playwright from Memphis, Tennessee. She is a graduate of Davidson College (BA in English, Concentration in Film and Media Studies) and The New School for Drama (MFA in Playwriting). Anderson spent three years working in the Memphis non-profit arts sector before moving to NYC in 2017. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the American Theatre Group PlayLab, a 2020-2021 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, and is currently commissioned by the University of Memphis Dept. of Theatre and Dance. Anderson is also one of eighteen Memphis Hub fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar’s Forum for Young Cultural Innovators. Learn more at calleynanderson.com.

Jennifer Baker is a publishing professional of 17 years, creator/host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, and contributing editor to Electric Literature. In 2017, she received a NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship and a Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant for Nonfiction Literature. Her essay “What We Aren’t (or the Ongoing Divide)” was listed as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2018. In 2019, she was named Publishers Weekly Superstar for her contributions to inclusion and representation in publishing. Jennifer is also the editor of the all PoC-short story anthology Everyday People: The Color of Life (Atria Books, 2018). She has volunteered with organizations such as We Need Diverse Books and I, Too Arts Collective, and spoken widely on topics of inclusion, the craft of writing/editing, podcasting, and the inner-workings of the publishing industry. Her fiction, nonfiction, and criticism has appeared in various print and online publications. Her website is: jennifernbaker.com.

Kaitlyn Greenidge‘s debut novel is We Love You, Charlie Freeman (Algonquin Books), one of the New York Times Critics’ Top 10 Books of 2016. Her writing has appeared in the Vogue, Glamour, The Wall Street Journal, Elle.com, BuzzFeed, Transition Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, American Short Fiction and other places. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study other places. She was a contributing editor for LENNY Letter and is currently a contributing writer for The New York Times. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. Kaitlyn’s forthcoming novel, Libertie, will be released in March 2021. Her website is: kaitlyngreenidge.com.

Quressa Robinson joined the Nelson Literary Agency in 2017 after working as an editor for five years. She is originally from San Francisco, but has been living in New York City for over a decade. As a New York based agent, she is eager to build her MG, YA, and Adult lists. When not curled on her couch reading, she plays video games, enjoys too much TV–mostly Sailor Moon and Avatar: The Last Airbender (Fire Nation!), eats delicious things, drinks champagne, hangs out with her very clever partner, and adds another “dramatic” color to her lipstick collection. Quressa is also a member of the 2017-2020 WNDB Walter Grant Committee and holds an MFA in Creative Writing: Fiction from Columbia University. In 2020, she was named one of five PW Star Watch finalists.

In this special horror edition deep dive writing workshop led by NYWC workshop leader Alisha Acquaye, we’ll specifically listen to Black musicians who use horror, absurdity, mystery and eccentricity in their art. Through curated media lists (essays, music videos, performances, interviews, music reviews and more), group discussions and imaginative writing prompts, we’ll use music as a guide to writing through our complex emotions, ideas and fears.

This workshop will begin on Wednesday, October 7th from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. (edt), and will meet six (6) weeks until November 11th.

(Note: this is a creative writing workshop, not a songwriting workshop! But songwriters are welcome. )

Workshop title inspired by Timbaland and Magoo’s song “I Am Music” featuring Aaliyah and Static Major.

APPLICATIONS TO THIS WORKSHOP ARE CLOSED

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR DROP-IN WORKSHOP FOR BLACK WRITERS

Alisha Acquaye is a writer, artist and event organizer with a passion for mutual empowerment across POC communities, and self-imagination as an instrument for resistance. Her work—ranging from journalism, creative nonfiction and multi-media collaboration—explores the relationships between art, identity, culture and intersectionality. Alisha is particularly inspired by the creative and afrofuturistic methods Black people use to reclaim their narratives, and self-care and community building as formative weapons against oppression.

In addition to documenting and storytelling, Alisha co-founded Sister Circle Brunch, a womxn of color event for sharing food and discussing self-care, and Unblended, a photo and interview series that celebrates the importance of Afro Asian friendships. You can find Alisha at alishaacquaye.com and read her essays in Teen Vogue, GQ, Allure, OkayAfrica, ELLE, The Establishment, Catapult, and more.

In this month long writing workshop, led by NYWC workshop leader Alisha Acquaye, we’ll watch and discuss films and television episodes revolving around Black horror. We’ll write into the themes, ideas and inquiries these visuals introduce, and contemplate how they intersect within our identities, relationships, society, and most of all, our creativity.

This is a 5-week workshop that will begin on October 8th from 6-8 p.m (edt) until November 5th.

APPLICATIONS TO THIS WORKSHOP ARE CLOSED

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR DROP-IN WORKSHOP FOR BLACK WRITERS

Alisha Acquaye is a writer, artist and event organizer with a passion for mutual empowerment across POC communities, and self-imagination as an instrument for resistance. Her work—ranging from journalism, creative nonfiction and multi-media collaboration—explores the relationships between art, identity, culture and intersectionality. Alisha is particularly inspired by the creative and afrofuturistic methods Black people use to reclaim their narratives, and self-care and community building as formative weapons against oppression.

In addition to documenting and storytelling, Alisha co-founded Sister Circle Brunch, a womxn of color event for sharing food and discussing self-care, and Unblended, a photo and interview series that celebrates the importance of Afro Asian friendships. You can find Alisha at alishaacquaye.com and read her essays in Teen Vogue, GQ, Allure, OkayAfrica, ELLE, The Establishment, Catapult, and more.

NY Writers Coalition (NYWC) is hosting a virtual open mic night on Friday, October 16, from 7 – 8 pm EDT hosted by Jon Sands!

ABOUT JON SANDS:

We’re hosting a special virtual mic check featuring the participants of The Words Between Us: A Writing Series for Black Womxn on Friday, October 9th, starting at 7pm EDT. It will be hosted by workshop leader, Alisha Acquaye. RSVP as a guest and show your support! Best of all it’s free and everyone is invited!

In the spirit of our mission, we’re giving our workshop participants the opportunity to share the writing they’ve created in this writing series with the entire NYWC community—and the public!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

ABOUT THE WORDS BETWEEN US: The participants wrote to different themes revolving around Black womxnhood, and received readings from Black womxn writers. The readings were meant to inspire, entertain and ignite their imaginations. It’ll be a wonderful event to commemorate this cycle of this writing series and to show support to all of these amazing writers!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WEEKLY THE WORDS BETWEEN US DROP-IN WORKSHOP

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Alisha Acquaye is a writer, artist and event organizer with a passion for mutual empowerment across POC communities, and self-imagination as an instrument for resistance. Her work—ranging from journalism, creative nonfiction and multi-media collaboration—explores the relationships between art, identity, culture and intersectionality. Alisha is particularly inspired by the creative and afrofuturistic methods Black people use to reclaim their narratives, and self-care and community building as formative weapons against oppression.

In addition to documenting and storytelling, Alisha co-founded Sister Circle Brunch, a womxn of color event for sharing food and discussing self-care, and Unblended, a photo and interview series that celebrates the importance of Afro Asian friendships. You can find Alisha at alishaacquaye.com and read her essays in Teen Vogue, GQ, Allure, OkayAfrica, ELLE, The Establishment, Catapult, and more.

In this deep dive writing workshop*, we’ll interpret, analyze and pull inspiration from our favorite Black muses, and use their art as mirrors into self. Each week we’ll zoom in on a specific artist who influences Black contemporary sounds. Through curated media lists (essays, music videos, performances, interviews, music reviews and more), group discussions and imaginative writing prompts, we’ll use music as a guide to writing through our complex emotions, ideas and fantasies.

Workshop title inspired by Timbaland and Magoo’s song “I Am Music” featuring Aaliyah and Static Major.

*This isn’t a songwriting workshop, but songwriters are welcome!

NOTE: This workshop is for Black writers only.

WORKSHOP REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

We’re happy to announce our NYWC Virtual Summer Youth Program! We’ll be offering a series of FREE creative writing workshops for New York City youths ages 10-18, but virtually through Zoom!

It will span for 6 weeks, with our first workshops starting on Saturday morning, July 11th. We’ll have another set of workshops on Tuesday afternoons starting on July 14th. We do want to note that kids and teens will be divided into different groups.

SCHEDULE

Saturdays / 10:30 am – 12:00 pm / July 11th – August 15th

Tuesdays / 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm / July 14th – August 18th

Please also share this news, with anyone who may be interested. It’s a great way to engage and encourage the creativity of kids and teens as they await the new school year.

At the moment we have reached capacity for the number of kids and teens to join. Sometimes there are participants who drop-out, which leaves spots open, so please fill out our form if you are still interested in having your child(ren) attend. This doesn’t guarantee a spot, but we will email ASAP if a spot opens up.

CLICK HERE TO BE ON OUR WAITLIST

Email us at summeryouth@nywriterscoalition.org regarding any questions.