Aug 25, 2026
Our wish this August is to gain 20 new Community Impact Members & more! Find out how to celebrate our birthday with events, well wishes, and donations.
It’s no surprise that Torch’s 20th year is here because we’ve been celebrating this significant milestone since January. However, August is a very special month. It’s Torch’s 20th birthday month! Every year, we reflect on how an organization for Black women writers started as a spark and ignited into the unavoidable flame that is Torch Literary Arts.
From our day-one supporters to our newest Friday Features, we’ve been cultivating a community that proudly tells Black women that their stories are not only important, but life-changing. Black women writers are America’s archivists. We are the culture markers of the past, current, and the future. Our stories are dreams of unimaginable worlds that people are lucky to experience.
This Birthday Month, we’re a living testament to a dream from 2006. Our 2007 archive magazine is award-winning and now features Black women writers from across the diaspora. Our programs now expand to include university, media, and international partnerships. We officially have a physical space in Austin, Texas: the Torch Center! In a time where Black-led and serving nonprofits face defunding, inconsistent performative support, and lack of acknowledgment, we have persisted.
So, won’t you celebrate this moment with us? After all, your support is what fuels our flame. This month, we want to thank our community for their unwavering support, and ask for one birthday wish: continued support into the next 20 years. Here are a few ways you can support Torch this month:
Become 1 of our 20 new Community Impact Members (CIMs) by donating just $10 monthly or $100 annually.
Become a sponsor for or attend Torch’s “A Gathering of Flames”
Attend our upcoming events:
August 25th – Wildfire Reading Series featuring LaToya Watkins
August 26th – 4th Annual Carrying the Torch
August 29th – Celebrate Black Bookstore Day at the Torch Center
August is also Black Philanthropy Month, an international giving month supporting Black-led nonprofits. Torch is proud to be a Black-led and serving organization with countless other nonprofits dedicated to uplifting our community. Between our birthday and celebrating the network of other Black-led nonprofits, there’s so much to celebrate!
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About Torch Literary Arts
Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established with love and intention in 2006 to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Torch has featured work by Toi Derricotte, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, workshops, an annual retreat, and special events.
Help Torch continue to publish and promote Black women writers by donating today.
About Black Philanthropy Month
Dr. Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland of Pan-African Women's Philanthropy Network and The WISE Fund established the month of August as Black Philanthropy Month in 2011, with recognition by the United Nations as part of its 2011 Declaration of the International Year for People of African Descent and its 2015-2024 Declaration of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The month-long observance invites all people of African ancestry and allied brothers and sisters to take August and beyond to promote the power of giving to transform lives. Learn more here.