Search Results

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, JUSTICE is a rising film director, screenwriter, and producer. After attending film school at Belmont University, JUSTICE began her career in film and television by crewing on various local productions. While gaining insight into the inner workings of the industry, she simultaneously tends to the hunger of telling her own stories.  JUSTICE believes the world lacks perspectives in Black stories rooted in societal abnormality, social commentary, and speculative fiction. Now, on a warpath to introduce planet Earth to the worlds of her imagination, JUSTICE is steadily showcasing her unique and evolving vision, one project at a time. Currently, JUSTICE is in the pre-production phase of her latest film project, The Infomercial — a biting satire that dismantles the "urban renewal" industrial complex. Through this project, she explores the predatory nature of corporate redevelopment and the radical resistance of those who refuse to be erased. Whether it’s through her nonprofit work of supporting Black filmmakers or her immersive film and media campaigns that blur the line between fiction and reality, JUSTICE’s work serves as a cinematic bulwark against cultural erasure. JUSTICE continues to live and work in Nashville, TN, where she is actively building a legacy that ensures Black stories remain—like the communities they depict—unapologetic and "Not For Sale." THE INFOMERCIAL FADE IN INT. DYLAN’S LIVING ROOM - DAY DYLAN (25, Black Male) sits in his living room, monotonously flipping through TV channels like a magazine. TELEVISION Oh Johnny, I love you more than you will ever know… He clicks. TELEVISION (CONT’D) (Male) Survey says!! (bing sound, then audience says:) Aw! He clicks. TELEVISION (CONT’D) (sirens and gunshot blare) They’re gaining on us! Floor it! He clicks. TELEVISION (CONT’D) Is your home in desperate need of renovations? Suddenly, a piece of drywall falls from the ceiling at his bare feet. His eyes wander up to the ceiling, then back to the television. He stays. TELEVISION (CONT’D) Or maybe times are just tough, and the cost of housing is just too much for you to handle? An EVICTION NOTICE sits on a small coffee table nearby. We now see the small TELEVISION that’s displaying an infomercial. As camera dollies into the TV, we leave Dylan and enter the world of “The Infomercial”... the aspect ratio slowly shifts from 16:9 to 4:3. PHILL LEE (50s, White Male) takes the lead from here: EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY Phill smiles boldly front of a small, older house. PHILL LEE Whatever the case may be, we’re here to help you … Hi, I’m Phill Lee, and I’m here to tell you about my company, ProjEX, where we take homes like this... The house behind him is nostalgic : a couple flower planters hang by the porch chairs. The window is barred with an A/C unit, and a small bike lies in the slightly overgrown grass. Black people live here... PHILL LEE (CONT’D) And turn them into this... Suddenly, the house and all its surroundings collapse to the ground... it was a backdrop . Phill now stands in front of NEW, MODERN HOME with big, open windows and at least three stories. You know the type... CUT TO: INT. POLITICIAN’S OFFICE - DAY We’re back in 16:9 aspect ratio. A POLITICIAN is sitting at a desk. Phill stands close behind. PHILL LEE (V.O) ProjEX is a state-funded initiative to clean up the unkept neighborhoods of our blossoming city. The politician STAMPS “APPROVED” on a paper and passes it to Phill with a smile. Phill grins back. BACK TO: EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY (4:3 Aspect Ratio) Phill walks from in front of the new house and down the street. As he continues, the houses behind him look more like the first house in the backdrop. BLACK KIDS and NEIGHBORS are barbecuing, playing ball & cards -- enjoying life’s simplicity in the background. PHILL LEE Let’s face it... you work hard for your home, you deserve to enjoy living in it. CUT TO: INT. DYLAN’S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS (16:9 Aspect Ratio) Dylan listens intently to Phill. PHILL LEE (V.O) (CONT’D) Plus, the city is growing! You don’t wanna be left behind! Through the window, we see Phill and a CAMERA CREW walk past. BACK TO: EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - CONTINUOUS (4:3 Aspect Ratio) Phill walks into frame and sits on the porch stairs of MIKE INGLEMAN (40s) house. Another UN-GENTRIFIED house. Mike is confused on who Phill is. PHILL LEE We understand... So, here’s what we’ll do: We’ll come in, evaluate the cost of renovation, and we pay for it, full price! Mike’s head snapped to Phill in shock. PHILL LEE (CONT’D) You heard me! Full Price! We bring so much good to the community that the government funds us to serve you! Mike nods, pretty impressed. PHILL LEE (CONT’D) (smiling to camera) Take it away Karen! INT. MIKE’S KITCHEN - DAY KAREN is the voice of the infomercial. We never see her. Mike stands in the kitchen, arguing on the phone. KAREN (V.O) You could call someone to fix it, but that’s expensive! And your landlord may not be prioritizing your needs. Defeated, Mike hangs up his house phone and hangs his head. EXT. MIKE’S ROOF - DAY Mike stands on a ladder, trying to repair his roof. The ladder is wobbling. KAREN (V.O) And although those social media videos are cute, you can’t really “do-it-yourself”, can you? PHILL enters. He looks at the ladder’s placement with a judgmental squint. He "tsks" and straightens the base to be perfectly level—pulling the legs out just enough for Mike to lose his balance. Mike screams as he FALLS off the ladder. Mike lies injured on the ground, slightly rolling amidst the pain. A beat later, A pair of pristine, chocolate-brown loafers waltz in right next to Mike’s head. Phill squats down and lays a piece of paper and a pen on the ground. It’s a CONTRACT. Slowly and still in the grass, Mike rolls over onto his stomach, grabs the pen, and signs the contract. Phill takes the paper and stands to his feet. KAREN (V.O) (CONT’D) So let us do it. The right way. The ProjEX way. With the pen still wedged between his fingers, Mike extends his hand to Phill like a fallen soldier seeking a rescue. Phill reaches back, a savior’s hand descending toward Mike’s palm. But at the last millisecond, Phill’s hand PIVOTS -- not for Mike’s hand, but for the pen. With a practiced flick, Phill nabs the pen, turns, and walks away in one smooth motion. Mike, already leaning his full weight into the anticipated hoist, finds only empty air. Mike face-plants back into the dirt with a muffled THUD. As he hits the ground, we hear his voice: MIKE INGLEMAN (V.O) I’m not gon lie... I was a little scared at first. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - MIKE’S TESTIMONIAL - DAY Mike talks to camera, looking off at what is assuming to be the camera crew. He gives the viewers at home a personal testimonial. He’s definitely that overexcited “Unc”. MIKE INGLEMAN I was like, “What’s the catch? What’s the catch?” But... I ain’t found one yet, so sounds like an offer I can’t refuse to me! As he excitedly smiles at camera, two PROJEX WORKERS on the porch THROW Mike’s belongings into the lawn, using no care at all. They’re dressed in full blue or red jumpsuits decorated with spray-painted white stars or stripes. They also have safety glasses and construction masks on. KAREN (PRE-LAP) You betcha it is! EXT. STREET - DAY RAY CEST (70s), Mike’s landlord, also gives his testimonial. He stands in front of what used to be Mike’s house, but is now a construction site. ProjEX Workers are building on-site. Karen continues: KAREN (V.O) Not a homeowner? Not a problem! Landlords love working with us. RAY CEST I love ProjEX! They just take the problem right off of my hands. He grins. KAREN (PRE-LAP) And neighbors love us too! EXT. STREET - DAY JEN TRAFIER gives her testimonial standing in front of her gentrified house. JEN TRAFIER I actually used ProjEX for my home. I loved it. It’s very easy and I’d recommend it for anyone. KAREN (PRE-LAP) But wait, there’s more! A bright blue (PowerPoint) slide takes over the screen with the company’s phone number and information. The infomercial video continues in the top left corner. KAREN (V.O) (CONT’D) If you call right now, we’ll include a free include in-ground pool installation! The video shows a series of shots constructing the house, and placing new belongings and decorations, like Hobby Lobby canvases and pictures of a white family. KAREN (V.O) (CONT’D) That’s right. Call right now at 1-800-615-6455 to schedule your renovation today! That’s 1-800-615-6455. (16:9 Aspect Ratio) As a ProjEX Worker is walking by outside, the kids’ ball rolls over to his feet. He looks over to the kids, who are already running from his glance. A neighbor also pulls out and opens mail from her mailbox…it’s an eviction letter. She sighs and looks to a fellow neighbor at his mailbox, who shakes their head and holds up the same thing. EXT. MIKE’S DRIVEWAY - DAY (4:3 Aspect Ratio) Mike’s house is done -- big, open windows and three stories high just like the one earl. Mike and Phill address the camera together. MIKE INGLEMAN My home looks great. Thanks, ProjEX! Couldn’t have done it without you! He runs away from the camera to the front door of his new home. Phill keeps addressing us at home: PHILL LEE Stop sitting in your old living room and get you a new one. When Mike makes it to the porch, he turns the doorknob, but the door does not open. He jiggles the knob. Nothing. He jiggles it more. MIKE INGLEMAN (still jiggling in the background) Hey... Hey, y’all locked the door. Mike jiggles the knob again. PHILL LEE It’s a renovation so nice, you’ll practically be breaking down your new door. (to Mike) Am I right? (winks to camera) MIKE INGLEMAN (in the background) Aye, man. Y’all ain’t give me no key either. Suddenly, the door to Mike’s house swings open. He turns to find a white family standing in the door frame. MIKE INGLEMAN (CONT’D) (in the background) Mane, who the hell are y’all?! Phill does his best to talk over the quarrel behind him. Phill smiles at camera once more. PHILL LEE Call us today and start living right. We guarantee you’ll love it or you’ll give our money back! Karen? The tension at the door increases. The family is getting scared as Mike yells more. Phill still smiles to camera. The words Karen says roll up the screen. KAREN (V.O) (talking super fast) ProjEX is a registered trademark. For promotional offers, eligibility requirements, terms and conditions, age restrictions, and offer expiration dates, visit our website at www.projEX.com or see store for details. Restrictions may apply. Offer subject to change without notice. Availability varies by location. Not valid with any other offer. Call now for more information. MIKE INGLEMAN (in the background) Whatchu mean this yo’ house. This MY house. I pay the water, utility bill, insurance bill... all the bills for 106 Willington Drive! Proof?! I don’t need no damn proof for my own house. Listen, y’all got 5 seconds to get out my damn door… 1.. 2... 3... 4... Sirens sing in the background. Mike looks back. MIKE INGLEMAN (CONT’D) (running of the porch) Oh shit! PHILL LEE ProjEX, turning hoods into homes. (16:9 Aspect Ratio) The camera crew is still rolling until... CAMERAMAN Annnd cut! Phill taps the cameraman on his shoulder. PHILL LEE Got it? Alright, let’s go. INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Dylan - still in the same spot - now sits with a lost and overwhelmed look, trying to process what he just watched. Someone knocks aggressively at the front door. Dylan gets up, not in a hurry. INT. FOYER - CONTINUOUS BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! DYLAN Hollon! Dylan quickly pulls a shirt over his head and he goes to open the door. When he does, it’s... PHILL LEE  Hi, I’m Phill Lee and I’m here to tell you about my company, ProjEX. Now, I see that your home here could use a little reno- Dylan slams the door in his face. PHILL LEE (CONT’D) (through the door) I’ll just stick the pamphlet in the door in case you change your mind. The pamphlet pokes through the door frame. Footsteps fade from the porch. Dylan turns to put his back against the door, revealing his “Hood is Home” Tee Shirt , which reads “F***Gentrification”. He walks out of frame releasing a deep breath. FADE OUT ### Torch Literary Arts  is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats. Donate to help Torch amplify Black women writers.

Dr. Malika Booker is a UK-based British-Caribbean poet and the award-winning author of Breadfruit and Pepper Seed. Malika Booker  is a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian Parentage, and co-founder of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen (A writer’s collective). The Anthology - Two Young, Two Black, Too Different, Poems from Malika’s Poetry Kitchen  was recently published to celebrate Malika Poetry Kitchen’s twentieth anniversary . Her pamphlet Breadfruit , (flippedeye, 2007) received a Poetry Society recommendation, and her poetry collection Pepper Seed (Peepal Tree Press, 2013) was shortlisted for the OCM Bocas prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre 2014 prize for first full collection. She is published with the Poets Sharon Olds and Warsan Shire   in The Penguin Modern Poet Series 3: Your Family: Your Body (2017 ).  Booker and Shara McCallum recently co-edited the issue of Stand Journal, curating an anthology of poems by African American, Black British, & Caribbean Women & Identifying Writers. Booker currently hosts and curates Peepal Tree Press’s Literary podcast, New Caribbean Voices.  A Cave Canem Fellow, and inaugural Poet in Residence at The Royal Shakespeare Company, Malika was awarded the Cholmondeley Award (2019) for outstanding contribution to poetry and elected a Royal Society of Literature Fellow (2022). Her poem The Little Miracles, commissioned by and published in Magma 75(autumn 2019), won The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (2020). Her poem Libation, published in Poetry Review (winter 2022) won The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (2023).  Jonah at the Border Did not Jonah seek to hide on a ship? Hide esp. take cover so as not to be seen or found. 2. Lay low as in secrete, huddle  up, knee to chin, palms cradling the underside of gut, while the poor boat bobbles like dumplings bubbling up in soup. All how he turn is vomit he want vomit in all the bangarang.  How he start reason with he-self like prophet. How he start wonder is when rasta man like he end up crump up down here? ••• Jonah meaning Dove.   meaning sailor or  meaning person on board ship bringing bad luck.  meaning a person jinx… ¹ •••       But when they persecute you in this city flee to the next: for verily I say unto you ²   ••• I read a book once 'Feel the Fear and do it anyway' ³ The author Susan Jeffers made it sound so easy twelve years later I still cannot jump into water (swimming pools or the ocean) for fear of water invading my eyes. •••       But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarnish from the presence…  ••• Man every passage is a risk, see how emptiness erupts  pon we tongue, sandpaper gently scraping we dark skin, that’s how you know is bad, when grated skin comforts more than what we left behind. You aint see the way news reports full up with our perilous crossings, more comforting than land left behind. The way we get painted as crowds of cockroaches  skittering over wooden floorboards. Steups!  And you blind worms can’t see we as paper dissolving in water, vanishing bodies. These days  when we get flung overboard no whale swallows  us whole to resurrect us on the third day.  ••• But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea,  and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship, to lighten it of them. ⁴ ••• As I write this poem I remember a Guyanese folksong we sung  in school: Itaname about how hard it is to navigate  the treacherous waters especially the jungle rapids. Captain, captain, put me ashore! I don’t want to do anymore. Itaname too much for me! Itaname gun friken me! Itaname, Itaname! Itaname! Itaname! ••• Today the News headline reads:  Horrifying new detail on death of “Jamaican men in wheel wall of the JetBlue plane: Men found in the landing gear. As I read I consider the biblical line: ⁵ but the Dove found no rest for the sole of her feet so it start climb in then crump up inna the wheel wall and so he lay coumblé trembling body beating against the wheel wall humming if I had the wings of a Dove ⁶  till lips too heavy inna the wheel wall till body start lick up itself pon wall like stick pon drum inna the wheel wall lying crump up crump up black skin resting on white metal inna the wheel wall singing this is what it sounds like when doves cry ⁷  till fingers & toes start tingle inna  the wheel wall  scared so till he could not hear the sound of his own heartbeat inna the wheel wall the sole of his feet turn ice fingers turn ice ears turn ice inna the wheel wall who will put forth his hand and ⁸   pluck him from this flight as he flees inna the wheel wall till he head start get bazodee, when the plane start rise higher inna the wheel wall thinking I’ll fly away oh glory I’ll fly away ⁹   right now from inna this wheel wall till he belly start talk in a strange tongue to turbulence bass inna the wheel wall till he start reason call out Jesus call out God call out ‘À mwè’ inna the wheel wall how he could not even take flight when ice start cover him like coffin blanket inna the wheel wall ••• Then the questions begin:  Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? ¹⁰ ••• For in your poetic vision, a boat had no belly, a boat does not swallow up, a boat does not devour, a boat is steered in open skies. Yet the belly of this boat dissolves you precipitates you into a nonworld from which you cry out. The boat is a womb, a womb abyss . ¹¹ ••• Then they said unto him, What shall we do unto thee  that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; ••• My aunt tells me in those days they taught you to swim like Bad John: she in that fishing boat, she father belly high beyond pregnant  she brothers grinning in khaki short pants, how they palms circled  she wrists and ankles. How they stretch she out like rope, swing  she round and round then dash she in the water. That is how  they use to teach you to swim in them days. Sink or swim girl   they start shout after they just throw she out like garbage. How  she just make one big splash then start sink, how she never  fight when water start blind and deaf she tail, till she father  had to jump in, haul she out, flip she over then thump she  back, till the entire sea spill out she mouth and nose.        Till she scared water bad bad to this unholy day.  ••• The waters compressed me about, even to the soul; the depth closed me  about, the weeds were wrapped about my head   ¹² ••• It was the day to behead the chickens. The chicks I fed  scattering grain in they brown cardboard box home. Cooing  to them. Stroking they yellow. Then just so dry, they turn full blown and cranky, only pecking ankles, when ah collecting  eggs in the coop. It is the day to behead  the chickens. Watch how sun smiling pon concrete like  is an ordinary day. Watch how birds peck the ripe soursop on we little tree. Father sharpening, he cutlass. While I beg  for them. Meh little brothers catch and clench the top  of their wings in one hand. Father stoops into position.  He places the first offering between he feet. Stands on  them wings. I flee. If you see how fast, I tear up  the wooden backstairs. Then slide under meh bed. Silent.  Meh heart a beating speaker. Fingers shaking, lying  under meh bed reading Nancy Drew. All how ah turn I can’t help think - Is what does summon the legs? What or who decides the direction of our blasted feet? Figure out how I reach under meh bed before even meh brain decide to run. Downstairs in the yard, decapitated friends  flap clumsily into they deaths, with no brain to direct them,  how long do they flap before the body knows it no longer  has a brain, before the body is beyond their fear? 1 Adapted from Online Etymology Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/word/Jonah 2 (Matthew 10: 23 Kings James Bible (KJV) 3 Jeffers, Susan. J. (1987). Feel the Fear and do it anyway.' Fawcett Columbine 4 Jonah 1:3-5 KJV 5 Daily Mail News Article. 7 th January 2025 US Reporter Joe Hutchinson 6 Hymn lyrics taken from Psalm 55:6 sag by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Also a popular funeral song in the Caribbean Community 7 When Doves Cry – Prince and the Revolution (song) 1894. 8 Genesis 8:9 9 I’ll Fly away – Albert e. Brumley (hymn) 1932 often song at Caribbean funerals 10 Jonah 1:8 11 Glissant, Edouard, 1928-2011. Poetics of Relation. Ann Harbor: University of Michigan Press, 1987. P.5 12 Jonah 2:5 THE INTERVIEW This interview was conducted between Malika Booker and Jae Nichelle on March 18, 2026. Malika Booker Interview Questions Wow, thank you for sharing this poem. You so skillfully weave in this re-imagined story of Jonah with present, personal, and historical moments of migration—all tied together by violence in and around water. What led you to begin with Jonah? This is a great question. My current poetry project creolizes the Kings James Bible, by recasting the characters, locations and language of the KJV within the English-speaking Caribbean and its diaspora.  This epic ekphrasis project enables Black bodies to enact embodied critiques of the enduring impact of plantocracy, colonialism and patriarchy on their lives. So, I lyrically reimagine characters like the Virgin Mary telling her mother she is pregnant and it is not Joseph’s child; or Jesus vulnerable in the Garden of Gethsemane wanting to enact a nine night wake the night before he is betrayed. Mrs. Noah and Samson’s mother interrogate how the act of non-naming diminishes their worth. This reimagined story of Jonah is part of this body of work. Jonah enables me to cast a critical lens on migration globally and its impact on the people undertaking these perilous endeavors. The poem’s lyrical hybrid sequential form allows a micro and macro investigation and demonstration of the complexity of migration and its harrowing impact on the body. Here I can allude to the danger of Jonah’s journey, his disdain scorn and superciliousness towards people who were other and his reluctance to travel, as a metaphorical trope.  It also allows me to explore the western myths about Black people’s relationship to water hinting at the middle passage, while simultaneously alluding to the crossings and deaths that occur every day off the European coasts.  Fear is a throughline in this poem. What is your relationship with fear, especially when it comes up in your work?  The Black body must constantly navigate some element of fear, particularly in the diaspora. This fear (embedded in the white psyche) is responsible for the disproportionately high numbers of deaths in police custody and is an underlying current in our engagement with white society. These elements of fear began the moment we were kidnapped from the continent and continued through the middle passage, and on the plantation economy where our labour was extracted through barbaric measures and continues to present day. So, the Jonah poem enables an interrogation of multiple examples of these fears. Personally, I remember my heightened fear living through Covid with the knowledge that in Britain a disproportionate number of Black people were dying, and that yet again my body was a vulnerable thing. It is this I suppose that has led me to my poetic preoccupation with examining the way we navigate our present lives in the shadow of fear. I hope that the Jonah poem alongside other poems enable us to scrutinize our fears, bravery and a sense of adventure in the face of adversity.  In the final stanza, the speaker instinctively runs for cover under the bed and grabs a book for comfort. It reminded me of a moment in your 2023 interview with Lauren K. Alleyne  when you said you would read under your bed as a child, which opened up the worlds that would later enable you to write. Does being a writer feel like a choice you’ve made or an instinct, something inevitable? I am more of a reader than a writer, who enjoys the act of reading for the worlds I discover and the knowledge I gain. Reading had a profound impact on my life at a crucial stage of my development. As an eleven-year-old, I moved from Guyana to Britain in 1981 and was severely lonely and bullied in the school yard. So much so that I asked the librarian if I could reshelve the books during the break and read to escape the bullies and the cold weather. I would borrow twelve books a week from the local library. Imagine my joy to discover ‘Ruby’ by Rosa Guy about a young West Indian teenager who had just migrated with her family to Harlem and was experiencing the same sense of alienation and bullying as me.  Anyway, I was an avid reader, yet most books I read were filled with white characters residing in worlds alien to my upbringing.  I wanted to read about Caribbean women like my mother and aunts. I wanted books and poems to explore and reflect the vibrant, complicated characters from my community. I remember discovering Toni Morrison and Alice Walker and just knowing that I wanted to emulate what these women were doing with African American characters with Caribbean ones. I could think of nothing else I wanted to do but write. This is my vocation, my compulsion, a practice as necessary to me as breathing. In that vein, I was so moved by this  letter you wrote to your younger self,  where you said writing is “a lifelong vocation and your development hinges on all of the sacrifices it requires.” What have been some of these sacrifices for you?   Everyone wants to please their family. Imagine living with being a family disappointment for years. Mothers, aunts and uncles shaking their heads at this young woman who is wasting her life on this weird dream and squandering her potential. Why could she not aspire to be a good lawyer like so and so’s child? A writer was not the average aspiration for a child of Caribbean immigrants. My mother enjoyed reading Pepper Seed and was proud of it, yet she would still sometimes say “it’s a pity you did not become a lawyer.” When I decided to work in the arts and be a writer, I remember taking a job working in a poetry organization three days a week. I was the Poetry Educational Coordinator – placing poets into educational settings like schools and colleges to teach workshops and the pay was abysmal. On the other two days I worked freelance: conducting workshops in schools, doing arts commissions, and poetry performances.  This work was sporadic; the organizations and schools would take a long time to pay me, and I would spend a considerable amount of my pay on writing courses, so I was often broke, juggling my bills, armed with this seemingly impossible dream of working in the arts and being a writer, while investing in my writer development. I spent over fifteen years attending evening courses, retreats, and residentials committed to learning craft and becoming a better writer.  There was also a rigid determination, as demonstrated by my steadfast commitment to being accepted to Cave Canem. I spent years applying – even though I had never seen a Black British Writer attend Cave Canem before and had no idea if they would accept international writers like me. I applied repeatedly until I was eventually accepted.  I think it was a sacrifice and a blind determination for an unknown outcome, with a surety that this would somehow pay off.  If you could, what questions would you ask your older self? Am I making the right decisions? Is there anything you would do differently with hindsight?  You’ve led a masterclass for poets about how to bring poems to life on stage. What do you love to see most when a poet is sharing their work aloud?  I love, love, love listening to poets share their work aloud. I like when the poet is so rooted within the work that their voice, body, and soul seem to be working at the same time so intent on passionately conveying their words to the audience. I love when the language, musicality, and imagery converge like a well-cooked meal, and the poet assumes the right tone and temperature to translate the words on the page in a way that hypnotizes me as the reader. The best poets are the ones who make my body leave my seat, while blowing my mind and dragging out emotions I did not know I had. The poet who is best at this is Patricia Smith; it is as if her performances have taken me to the Pentecostal church, where my body rocks and I am testifying, occasionally causing a moan to escape my mouth as response to the poet’s call.  If someone were to visit you who’d never been in Leeds before, where would you take them?  I would take them to a Fish Friday at the Caribbean Cricket Club. Then we would go to a Pre-love or fashion event organized by my friends Ebony Milestone and Khadijah Ibrahiim (poet, fashion stylist, theatre maker, curator and literary activist). We must go to Jam Rock Caribbean restaurant. There is an essential pilgrimage to visit the Plaque and memorial sculpture of David Oiuwale a British Nigerian man who drowned after being chased by police officers in April 1969. The 9.5 (31ft) sculpture, named ‘Hibiscus Rising’ is a beautiful hibiscus flower designed by renowned Artist Yinka Shonibare. They could not leave Leeds without going on one of Joe Williams Heritage Corner’s Leeds Black History Walks looking at the African presence in Yorkshire. How can people support you right now? Thank you for this generous question. They can support me by buying my book ‘Pepper Seed,’ following me on Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Eventbrite, and TikTok, where they can find out about my teaching, mentoring, and performing endeavors. This can also keep up to date with publications like my forthcoming poetry collection, which will be out in Autumn 2027. On Eventbrite, they can join my mailing list and sign up for courses like  ‘Prompt-A-Mania’ (an all-day online retreat dedicated to producing drafts) and my bespoke Malika’s Monday Mentoring program – (offering bespoke 1-1 mentoring). I am also available for commissions, visiting lecturer, and/or performances.  Name another Black woman writer people should know.  Karen McCarthy Woolf – a poet of Jamaican and British descent. Her work is experimental, necessary, and innovative and has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Poetry and the TS Eliot Prize.  Her recent novel in verse Top Dolls  has been described by Bernardine Evaristo (Booker Prize winner) as an ‘Extraordinary inventive, witty, moving and profound.” While her latest hybrid lyrical essay novel in verse and recent collection ‘Unsafe’ has been described “as an immersive mediation on place, the body, nature and the self whether it’s via tattoos, trees or totemic quality of cats” and “A moving, critical and highly intuitive epic weaving together poetry, documentary and lyric essay. For me the book is in conversation with Layli Long Soldier and Claudia Rankine.  A vital part of McCarthy Woolf’s practice is the anthologizing of Black British poets. Her latest groundbreaking ecological and environmentalist anthology is ‘Mature Matters: vital poems from the Global Majority co-edited with the poet Mona Arshi and recently longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. ### Torch Literary Arts  is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats. Click here to support Torch Literary Arts.

Temidayo Testimony Omali Odey , also known as Testimony Odey, is a graduate of English and Literature from the University of Benin. Her writing has been published in magazines and journals, including The Deadlands , Poetry Pause , The FEMINIST Magazine , Brittle Paper , Kalahari Review , Eco-Instigator , Akéwì Magazine , Rising Phoenix Review , and PoeticAfrica . Her work maps the complexities of the human experience, exploring identity, culture, and emotion through lenses of gender, Africanness, love, memory, spirituality, grief, and defiance. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Rongo Artist Residency and MAAR, and has been shortlisted for the African Human Rights Short Story Prize and Brigitte Poirson Literature Prize. Her accolades include the Nigerian Prize for Teen Authors, the inaugural African Teen Writers Awards, the HIASFEST Star Prize, and the Wakaso Poetry Prize. She is a fiction editor at NWF Journal and a fellow of the Ugly Collective. In her free time, she enjoys films, reading, singing, and philosophical conversations. She shares her work and thoughts on social media as @testimonyodey. A HUNDRED, BRILLIANT SUNS You cannot believe you won it. The sun licks your skin wet as you walk home down Agwan-Sarki Street with Eze. He says in Pidgin, “No be say after you travel, you go forget me o.”  You care about him, no doubt, but the only person you do not want to forget is Amara. Amara with eyes the colour of coconut shells. “This one you’re not answering me, I hope you’ve not already started forgetting me,” Eze jokes. A mirthful melody flows from within you, and in that moment of joy where your world is suddenly brighter than it has ever been, you pat his back and assure him solemnly, “Don’t worry, beloved, I will remember you in Paradise.”  The bend leading to your father’s compound is filled with overgrown weeds and tiny sunflowers. A seer need not open one’s eyes to see that in a few days the ugly weeds will choke the hundred brilliant suns to death. You want to save them all before that happens, fill a jar with the light and water they need to prosper. But some things you’re never meant to have the capacity to keep, no matter how much you love and want to save. Sooner or later, even in your utopia-like jar, the suns will wilt, become things made for darkness simply because they were always seeds meant for earth alone.  The compound is wide open. In it, a small, homely structure. A stark contrast to the magnificent glass mansion the retired governor of your state built in his village with diverted funds that could have helped your father mount a better structure. On the worn-out cushion, relatives squeeze themselves like sardines in a can. Each mutters prayers of protection for your journey. It is impossible to count how many times you say “amen.” They come at you like spears – the prayers, the jokes, but most of all, the glances. It feels as though their eyes are sharp microscopes gliding over every inch of your skin, and what they are searching for, you cannot tell.  “See how he’s behaving like oyibo  already,” Amaka, your younger sister, says. You suck air through your teeth and throw her a bombastic side eye. You’ve always behaved like this. How did it suddenly become an imitation of a white person? If Amara were sitting beside you, she would roll her eyes and ask you to give no thought to Amaka’s words. “She’s just a child, and children say stupid things all the time. Just a few hours more, and you’ll be left all alone...with me,” she’d whisper in your ears. The breath from her lips would tingle, your ears would feel funny, and that same funny, tingling sensation would spread through your whole body until you’d be shifting uncomfortably on the cushion, trying to hide an erection.  ☼ Yesterday, your mother leaned by the kitchen door. An aunt was grinding beans and red pepper with a blender. The smell of eggs boiling weaved its way into the parlour. You planned to take some moi-moi to Amara in the evening.  “God is so good,” your mother sighed. It was what she said whenever she felt engulfed with sadness. “May God grant you success so by the time you become a big man in America, you can come and take me out of this suffer-head country.”  Your aunties comforted her with soothing hands and words of encouragement like, “From your mouth to God’s ears. Things will be better, as long as God has secured this Visa for him.”  You imagined God holding the visa, playing a game of Eeny Meeny Miny Moe with all the people who earnestly desired to be told, “Congratulations, your visa application has been successful!”, and his lucky finger landing on you at the end of the game. Your mother sniffed, and something in you crackled. You hated to see her cry, felt your own tears stuck in your throat while hers were a river down her cheeks. Just a few months ago, one of your uncles in Texas had applied for an American Visa Lottery on your behalf. Pray he gets lucky, he had said. God must’ve been tired of seeing the roughly cemented floor leave imprints on your mother’s knee, of listening to her soft wails and pleadings asking him to show up for her son like He did for the three Hebrew children in that strange land of Babylon, because the next time your uncle called, excitement ran through his voice like blood in veins as he said, “He won it! Oh my God!”  If only your father were alive to see this day, he would have thrown a big party with white chickens bought from Orozo market. Papa went to work and never came back. You could still see your mother’s lips moving in ceaseless prayers. Surely, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not about to turn His back on her. But only the next minute, a man called and said a six-foot dark-skinned elderly man had been found dead. The card in his pocket contained the number which he dialled. Your father always kept an identification card in his pocket. As soon as your mother dropped her phone, her lungs gave way, and she ran to Aunty Ogechi’s house. You had taken care of your younger siblings for the whole day while your mother was gone. You were only in JS2 and did not know how to tell them that someone who had just kissed their foreheads and said the Lord’s prayer with them as they ate breakfast was gone, just like that. Sometimes at midnight, you found your mother muttering unbelievably to herself, “So, my husband don die?”  When neighbours and relatives came in black clothing to offer their condolences, your mother would tell the story of how your father died to anyone and everyone: “One stupid okada man knocked him off the road as he was crossing! Imagine! My husband has been crossing this same road for decades… which kind bad luck be dis, God? ” she would whisper, her voice hoarse and stretched taut. As the first son, you felt a need to become the new ‘father.’ But your father never cried, and there you were, muffling your tears on the custard-coloured bed foam your father once slept on.  The moi-moi in your hands smelled of sauced smoked fish and ugwu. You had done a proper calculation of time before leaving home: by nightfall, Amara’s parents would be back from the community health centre where they worked as clerks. If you left now, you’d be able to spend two to three hours with Amara before they arrived. A cloud shielded the sun in the late afternoon sky as you walked to her house. You had not even knocked twice before the doorknob twisted. The look in her eyes spoke of betrayal and anger.  “What have I done this time, my love?” you said as she moved aside to let you in. “You’re travelling,” she said as a matter of fact. “I don’t understand…”  She rolled her eyes before sitting beside you on the three-sitter. “I’m leaving early tomorrow. We can’t afford to quarrel now,” you said when she wouldn’t say a word. Her fingers retied a loose Bantu knot, and she straightened her faded emerald A-gown. “We can afford to. After all, you’re the one travelling across seas where a white woman will steal your heart.”  That’s not true, you wanted to say, but how would you know what was true of a time and place you hadn’t lived in? So, you said instead, “I have sworn on my dead father’s grave that you’re the only woman I will marry, Amara, and I mean it. I will only spend a few years in America and come back for you, I promise.”  It was barely a whisper: “Like you promise-promise swear on your life promise?”  You guffawed, the sound becoming one with the brightness that filled the room, and said, “Yes, yes, I swear on my life promise.”  She told you of plans to learn shoe-making in the city soon, of opening a shop of her own at the end of the day, and of writing you a letter every day in her diary up until the day you would return for her. You enjoyed the way her lips moved as she talked.  “Can I kiss you?”  One nod from her and you felt like you just won another lottery.  You savoured the taste of unzu on her lips like it was the most delicious thing on earth. Perhaps it was. It was the best kiss of your life. Or not. Really, you had nothing to compare it to. Never had you kissed anyone apart from her before. Before you slept that night, you replayed the tryst, wondering how many years it would take for you and her to recreate such a moment again.  ☼ Everyone follows you outside when a blaring horn pierces the air. Eze brings out your black travelling bag. Your younger brothers run to open the gate. Amaka wraps her arms around your back, and your shirt stifles her cries. You run your hands through her roughly plaited hair, already overdue for a good wash with Petals Shampoo and Conditioner. “Don’t leave us,” she whispers. The driver comes down from the car, a polite smile plastered to his face as he greets everyone. Your mother wails, her body trembling as she shakes with tears. She says, “My son is leaving me” again and again. You say, “I swear I’m not. How can I?”  As the driver carefully places your bag in the boot, Uncle Eke says to your mother, “Stop crying, your son has not left to die.” Amaka sits on the floor and holds on to one of your legs, saying, “Brother, will you buy me that oyibo  shoe Cinderella used to wear in that cartoon?” Throwing your head back in a guffaw, you say, “Where in the world would I find a glass slipper?”  “So, you no go buy for me?” she cries. You say in finality, “If I see it, I will. But if I don’t, you’ll have to wait for your Prince Charming to give you one, okay?” She nods and spreads her lips wide. You can tell she is daydreaming about her Prince Charming. You imagine she conjures up images of a handsome, white man with brown eyes and hair, exactly like the Prince in Cinderella’s cartoon.  The driver glances at his wristwatch and sighs. He can sigh all day for all you care. After rounds of hugging, you walk to the car door. Before you can open it, your mother runs to you. You don’t care that it feels like she is squeezing the life out of you in her embrace. Your arms encircle her slender frame, the tears you have been managing to keep from falling finally rolling down. Slowly, she lets you go just enough to raise her arms above your head and put her rosary on your neck. “May God guide you and direct your path. Where men fail, you will succeed. You will not die,” she says, tears choking up her words. You kiss her forehead, tell her you will come back, take her abroad, and give her a better life. Her trembling intensifies. She wipes her eyes dry with the back of her palms. You want to kiss her forehead again, but you’re afraid of breaking into tears all over again. The driver starts the ignition. Amaka runs forward, her big black eyes in plea as she holds your hands. “Come back fast-fast, you hear?” Everyone laughs, and you whisper in her ears, “When I come back, I’ll get you a big job and a big car.” You have no idea why you have just said that. Would you really be able to do that when you come back? You like to imagine you would, that you’d return rich and somewhat powerful. On the road, you think of everything you’re leaving behind. When the driver speeds on the highway, you run your fingers over your mother’s rosary. You have never been much of a believer. But as the car drives into Nnmandi Azikiwe International Airport, you hope God plays another game of Eeny Meeny Miny Moe that ends with his finger pointing at you. GLOSSARY “ No be say after you travel, you go forget me o. ” / Let it not be that you forget me when you travel. oyibo / white person “ So, my husband don die? ” / So, my husband is dead? which kind bad luck be dis, God? ” / What kind of bad luck is this, God? ### Torch Literary Arts  is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats. Donate to help Torch amplify Black women writers.

Latest News Apr 2, 2026 Celebrating 20 Years of Highlighting Black Women in Poetry Torch is elated to celebrate National Poetry Month and the Black women poets in our community. Read More Mar 31, 2026 Torch Literary Arts Announces New Board Member Dalia Azim joins the Torch board, bringing her expertise in literary programming and partnerships in the Austin literary community. Read More Mar 12, 2026 Torch Literary Arts to Open Registration for “A Gathering of Flames: Celebrating 20 Years of Torch Literary Arts” on March 16th The inaugural gala and conference will feature Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Sharon Bridgforth, Patricia Smith, and Crystal Wilkinson from September 25-27, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Read More Mar 6, 2026 Celebrating Women and a Sustainable Future with Torch This year’s Women’s History Month Theme urges us to celebrate women who are taking charge in regard to sustainability, and this International Women’s Day urges us to give to gain. Read More Mar 3, 2026 Torch Returns to the 2026 AWP Conference in Baltimore For four days, Torch will join other writing organizations, writers, publishers, students, and more at the largest literary conference in the country. Read More Feb 27, 2026 Torch Literary Arts Welcomes New Team Member Torch adds a new position, Administrative Associate, to help with daily operations and support the needs of Torch Center. Read More Feb 5, 2026 Austin Film Society Joins Torch Literary Arts as New Community Partners The two organizations will amplify a series of film screenings showcasing Black women screenwriters, directors, and films that reflect Black culture. Read More Feb 1, 2026 Celebrating the Milestones of Community and History through Literary Greatness and Storytelling this Black History Month This year’s Black History Month theme, “A Century of Black History Commemorations,” urges us to acknowledge the historical impact of Black narratives. Read More Jan 29, 2026 Kicking Off 20 Years with the Spring 2026 Season Torch’s Spring 2026 Season builds on the history we've made in our 20 years of strengthening the literary community of Black women writers. Read More Jan 29, 2026 Important Transitions to Torch's Board of Directors This board transition includes the retirement of former board treasurer, Candace Lopez, election of new board treasurer, Dana Weekes, and the election of new board secretary, Rachel Winston. Read More Jan 28, 2026 Torch to Raise $10,000 during one of Austin’s Largest Giving Days Torch joins over 700 nonprofits during Amplify Austin to raise funds for Black women writers. Read More Jan 2, 2026 Celebrating a New Year with a Growing Community Taking the time to thank you all for your support in 2025 and share exciting news for 2026. Read More Dec 29, 2025 Ending the Year Strong with Community Impact and Growth Taking time to thank you all for your support in 2025 and share plans to end the year strong. Read More Dec 9, 2025 A Big Thank You to Our Major Funders In 2025, seven major funders supported Torch’s mission to amplify Black women writers. Read More Dec 5, 2025 Torch Raises $5,593 for 2025 GivingTuesday Campaign Joining one of the largest international giving days, Torch raised $5,593. Read More Dec 1, 2025 Torch Announces the 2025 Nominations for the Pushcart Prize Six Torch Features, Jordan E. Franklin, Joi' C Weathers, Imani Nikelle, Yolanda Kwadey, Jennifer Maritza McCauley, and Marchaé Grair are nominated for their respective works. Read More Nov 19, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Celebrates GivingTuesday with a Board Match, Supporter Toolkit, Giveaway, and More. Torch is joining millions around the world participating in the global generosity movement on December 2, 2025. Read More Nov 5, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Returns as a Partnering Organization for the 2025 Texas Book Festival Over two days, Torch will host poets Tiana Clark and Donika Kelly in Austin for a series of inspiring readings and conversations. Read More Oct 22, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Announces Transitions to 2025 Board of Directors This board transition includes the retirement of former board secretary, Stephanie Lang, and the election of new board member, Rachel Winston Read More Oct 15, 2025 Torch Announces the 2025 Nominations for the O. Henry Prize Two Torch Features, Jennifer Coley and Jessica Araújo, are nominated for their respective short fiction stories. Read More Oct 9, 2025 Celebrating the Second Annual Donor-Advised Funds Day Torch Literary Arts encourages families and individuals with donor-advised funds to consider supporting Black women writers and the programs we offer. Read More Sep 16, 2025 Torch Announces the Nominations for the Best of the Net Eleven Torch Features were nominated for their works in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and visual art in Torch Magazine. Read More Sep 2, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Announces the Torch Center Coming Fall 2025 The local Austin nonprofit organization dedicated to building community for Black women writers will now have a physical location at the LINC of Austin. Read More Aug 28, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Releases Fall 2025 Season Torch’s Fall 2025 Season includes dynamic readings, a screenwriting conversation, book festivals, workshops, and more! Read More Aug 20, 2025 Torch Announces 2026 Dates for 20th Anniversary Celebration “A Gathering of Flames” will take place in Austin, Texas, from September 25 to 27, 2026, celebrating Black women writers and 20 years of Torch’s growing community. Read More Aug 1, 2025 Celebrating Torch and Black Philanthropy Month All August Long Torch is celebrating 19 years of community and impact with CIM goals, new updates, and more! Read More Jun 5, 2025 Celebrating the Intersectionalities of Black Women Writers June is a month full of pride for queer, Caribbean, and song-filled Black women writers and the readers who love them. Read More May 28, 2025 Torch Announces New Community Impact Member Donation Initiative The Community Impact Membership (CIM) program provides Torch’s monthly donors of at least $10 and annual donors of at least $100 with exclusive items and updates. Read More Apr 24, 2025 Torch Announces the 2025 Retreat Fellows Torch returns for a third consecutive year to host eight fellows at their annual retreat for Black women writers at the Colton House in Austin, Texas, from July 20-27, 2025. Read More Apr 1, 2025 Celebrating Black Women's Contributions to Poetry All Month Long Continuing on months of celebrating Black History Month and Women’s History Month, we’re keeping the acknowledgments alive with National Poetry Month Read More Mar 27, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Awarded AWP Writing Organization Award This is the first-ever Writing Organization Award by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, which is awarded to literary organizations based on the legacy of writing organization advocate Kurt Brown. Read More Mar 17, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Recognized at the Ireland House During SXSW with Prime Minister of Ireland Micheál Martin Torch’s “Writers Across the Diaspora” program in partnership with the Irish Consulate, Culture Ireland, and Texas State University was highlighted. Read More Mar 11, 2025 Celebrating Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day This year’s themes of moving forward together and accelerating change reinforce Torch’s mission to ALWAYS support Black women writers and the stories they share. Read More Mar 7, 2025 Torch Raises over $6,000 during Amplify Austin Campaign Joining over 700 nonprofits for one of the largest giving days in Central Texas, Torch raised over $6,000 to amplify Black women writers worldwide. Read More Feb 10, 2025 Help Torch Raise $10,000 during Amplify Austin’s 2025 Giving Campaign! For the third year in a row, Torch is participating in Austin’s metro-wide giving day to merge the Black women literary community with the wider Austin giving community. Read More Feb 10, 2025 Wintergreen Women Writers Collective and Torch Literary Arts Partner to Host Welcome Table Talks Series featuring Black Women Writers The two literary organizations dedicated to creating community for Black women writers will host a series of talks over the next three years thanks to funding from the Mellon Foundation. Read More Jan 31, 2025 Celebrating Black History Month by Acknowledging Black Women Writers and Their Contributions to Literature Torch is using this year’s Black History Month theme “African Americans and Labor” to highlight the literary work we do to share our voices. Read More Jan 24, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Announces 2025 Spring Season Torch’s 2025 Spring Season is full of community collaborations, readings, writing workshops, and more to empower and encourage Black women to continue telling their stories. Read More Jan 10, 2025 Torch Literary Arts to Open Applications for the 2025 Torch Retreat on February 3rd The Torch Retreat will host its third annual writing retreat for Black women writers at the Colton House in Austin, Texas from July 20-27, 2025. Read More Jan 3, 2025 City of Austin Cultural Arts Division Awards Torch Literary Arts the Thrive Grant along with Other Cultural Arts Organizations in Austin The Cultural Arts Division awarded $13 million in funds to local arts and cultural organizations for a second year with Thrive and Elevate grants. Read More Jan 3, 2025 Torch Literary Arts Announces Retirement of Board Member Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones joined the board in 2023 bringing her expertise as an artist, performer, author, and scholar to help support Black women writers. Read More Jan 3, 2025 Welcoming the New Year with Love and Community Taking the time to thank you all for your support in 2024 and share exciting news for 2025 Read More Dec 12, 2024 'Tis the Season for Gifts & Giving Find out how to support Torch and our community sponsors and supporters this holiday season! Read More Dec 4, 2024 Torch Surpasses Fundraising Goal for 2024 GivingTuesday Campaign Joining one of the largest international giving days, Torch surpassed its fundraising goal of $5,000. Read More Nov 22, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Celebrates GivingTuesday with Community and Board Matches, Ignite the Night, and More. Torch is joining millions around the world participating in the global generosity movement on December 3, 2024. Read More Nov 22, 2024 Torch Announces the Nominations for the Pushcart Prize Six Torch Features, Erica Frederick, A. E. Wynter, Sydney Mayes, Chidima Anekwe, Chyann Hector, and Mon Misir, are nominated for their respective works. Read More Nov 15, 2024 Torch Executive Director and Features Named as Brooks Living Legacy Honorees 20 Torch community members were named Living Legacy Honorees Read More Nov 1, 2024 Torch Literary Arts to Celebrate and Amplify Black Women Writers During the 2024 Texas Book Festival Over two days, Torch will host poet, essayist, and novelist Morgan Parker and Los Angeles Poet Laureate Lynne Thompson, and embark on a literary book crawl showcasing the works of the organization’s previous features. Read More Oct 18, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Welcomes New Team Members Thanks to capacity-building funding, Torch adds a Creative Content Associate and Administrative Fellow to the Team. Read More Oct 7, 2024 Celebrating National Book Month with Torch Literary Arts This October, Torch is celebrating National Book Month with Torch Day, an inaugural international program, and much more! Read More Sep 6, 2024 Torch Announces the Nominations for the Best of the Net Nine Torch Features were nominated for their works in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and visual art in Torch Magazine. Read More Sep 5, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Receives National Book Foundation Grant The National Book Foundation awarded Torch funding from the Capacity-Building Grant Program. Read More Aug 30, 2024 Torch Announces the Nominations for the O. Henry Prize Two Torch Features, Felicia A. Rivers and Lydia Mathis, are nominated for their respective short fiction stories. Read More Aug 29, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Releases 2024 Fall Season Torch’s 2024 Fall Season includes international poets, a screenwriting panel, workshops on character building and memoirs, the Wildfire Reading Series, and more! Read More Aug 2, 2024 Celebrate Torch’s 18th Birthday & Our Mission to Amplify Black Women Writers Our wish this August is to gain 18 new monthly recurring Torch supporters & more! Find out how to celebrate our birthday with events, well wishes, and donations. Read More Jul 19, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Welcomes Erin Waelder to the Board of Directors Erin was welcomed to the board in June, bringing her extensive background in development communications. Read More Jul 12, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Receives Poetry Foundation Grant Torch Literary Arts (Torch), a nonprofit organization dedicated to amplifying Black women writers, will receive funding from the Poetry Foundation. This is the nonprofit’s second year receiving funding from the foundation. Read More Jun 28, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Receives Burdine Johnson Foundation Grant This is Torch's third year receiving the grant that serves Central Texas arts, education, historical preservation, and environmental sustainability causes. Read More Jun 5, 2024 Celebrate Pride Month by Amplifying Queer Black Voices At Torch, we recognize the many impactful contributions that queer Black women writers have given us and wish a Happy Pride to all those celebrating! Read More May 31, 2024 Torch Feature Yael Valencia Aldana Receives Pushcart Prize For the second year in a row, a Torch Feature has received a Pushcart Prize for their amazing work published in Torch Magazine. Read More May 24, 2024 Torch Literary Arts to Receive Grants for Arts Allocation from the National Endowment for the Arts This is Torch's second year receiving funding from National Endowment for the Arts. Funding will go towards artist honorariums for retreats, workshops, panels, and readings. Read More Apr 12, 2024 Torch Announces the 2024 Retreat Fellows Eight fellows were selected to attend the second annual retreat for Black women writers at the Colton House in Austin, Texas from July 21-28, 2024. Read More Apr 11, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Welcomes Dana Weekes to Board of Directors Dana Weekes was welcomed to the board in March, bringing her extensive background in law and policy, and commitment to creation as self-care. Read More Apr 5, 2024 Celebrating National Poetry Month with an Ode to Poets Every April, Torch is elated to celebrate the Black women who put words to feelings by celebrating National Poetry Month Read More Mar 22, 2024 Website Updates: New Transparency Documents, Including Three-Year Strategic Plan Torch Literary Arts updates website to include transparency documents including IRS Form 990s, Annual Reports, and the 2024-2026 Strategic Plan. Read More Mar 8, 2024 Celebrating Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day Torch Literary Arts acknowledges and celebrates the many literary contributions of women to history and the wonderful Black women writers across the diaspora. Read More Feb 16, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Opens Applications for the 2024 Torch Retreat The Torch Retreat will host its second annual writing retreat for Black women writers at the Colton House in Austin, Texas from July 21-28, 2024. Read More Feb 9, 2024 Celebrating Black History & Futures 24/7, 366 days This Black History Month, Torch acknowledges the importance of amplifying Black women writers year-round. Read More Jan 30, 2024 Austin Community Foundation Announces Torch Literary Arts as one of The Black Fund Grant Partners The Black Fund’s recognition of Torch Literary Arts as a grant partner allows Torch to continue hosting special events for Black women writers in the Austin community. Read More Jan 26, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Unveils 2024 Spring Season Torch’s 2024 Spring Season is full of workshops, panels, an interactive literary cooking event, and much more to help Black women writers share their unique stories. Read More Jan 16, 2024 Torch Literary Arts Announces Transitions to 2024 Board of Directors This year’s board transition includes the retirement of former board chair, Florinda Bryant, and elections of new board chair, Dr. Sequoia Maner, new secretary, Stephanie Lang, and new board member, Shannon Johnson Read More Jan 9, 2024 Culture Ireland Awards Torch Literary Arts Funding to Host Irish Poets Torch will use the Culture Ireland funding to host Irish poets Nithy Kasa and FELISPEAKS for interactive writing workshops from October 1-7, 2024. Read More

< Back Torch Literary Arts Announces New Board Member Mar 31, 2026 Dalia Azim joins the Torch board, bringing her expertise in literary programming and partnerships in the Austin literary community. Torch is excited to add another member to the Board of Directors. This month, we’re welcoming Dalia Azim to the board. As an organization dedicated to literary excellence, we’re excited to welcome a local board member who is an active leader in the literary community. Dalia Azim was born in Canada and raised in the United States. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Short Fiction, and Poets & Writers, among other places. Her first novel, Country of Origin , was published in 2022 and received the Discovery Award from the Writers' League of Texas. Dalia lives in Austin, Texas, with her family and is the Chief Operating Officer of the Texas Book Festival. “Dalia has been a longtime Torch supporter personally and professionally through the Texas Book Festival. The partnerships and collaborations created in Austin’s literary arts community strengthen the ecosystem of writers in our city,” said executive director Amanda Johnston. “ Dalia’s experience in the literary community provides the operational and programmatic guidance we want on our board,” said board chair, Dr. Sequoia Maner. “We look forward to working together to support Torch’s mission to amplify and uplift Black women writers.” For more information about Torch Literary Arts and our team, please visit https://www.torchliteraryarts.org/team or follow @torchliteraryarts on Instagram. ### About Torch Literary Arts Torch Literary Arts (Torch) 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, writing workshops, and retreats. Help Torch continue to publish and promote Black women writers by donating today. Media Contact Information: Brittany Heckard Communications Associate bheckard@torchliteraryarts.org (512) 641-9251 Previous Next

The Team Amanda Johnston Founder / Executive Director Read More Sierra Lewis Administrative Associate Read More Dana Weekes Board Treasurer Read More Dalia Azim Board Member Read More Jen Margulies Advisory Board Member Read More Brittany Heckard Communications Associate Read More Dr. Sequoia Maner Board Chair Read More Shannon Johnson Board Member Read More Hallie S. Hobson Advisory Board Member Read More Sheree L. Ross Advisory Board Member Read More Jae Nichelle Associate Editor Read More Rachel E. Winston Board Secretary Read More Erin Waelder Board Member Read More Raina Fields Advisory Board Member Read More Parneshia Jones Advisory Board Member Read More