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Inducted in the Texas Institute of Letters in 2025, Sharon Bridgforth is a widely published author, a United States Artists Fellow, winner of Yale's Windham Campbell Prize in Drama, and a New Dramatists alumna. photo by Kevin O'Harra Jr Sharon Bridgforth collaborates with interdisciplinary artists and audiences to install moving soundscapes of her ritual/jazz texts in celebration of African-American Southern Migration histories/queerly. Sharon's work is archived at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, New York, NY and at The Austin History Center-Austin Public Library. Inducted in the Texas Institute of Letters, Sharon is an Associate Company Member at Pillsbury House + Theatre, a Doris Duke Performing Artist, recipient of Yale's Windham Campbell Prize in Drama, the Playwrights’ Center Core Membership, McKnight National Fellowship and the USA Artist Fellowship. She has received support from Creative Capital, MAP Fund and the National Performance Network, is a New Dramatists Alum and MAP Fund Scaffolding for Practicing Artists Coach. Sharon has served as Guest Faculty for the Macondo Writers Workshop, founded by Sandra Cisneros and has served as Artist In-Residence for: Thousand Currents; Brown University’s MFA Playwriting Program; University of Iowa’s MFA Playwrights Program; The Theatre School at DePaul University; and The Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. She has had the privilege of being part of the Center for African and African American Studies and the Black Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin for more than twenty years. The Callaloo Journal, Issue 43.4 features some of the department's history. Sharon's new book, before you go: an Offering was published by Tripwire Harlot Press in 2025. 53rd State Press published bull-jean & dem/dey back in 2022. Widely published, Sharon's work is featured in: Volume 110, No. 4, Winter 2022 of The Yale Review; Teaching Black, The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature; Mouths of Rain an Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought; Feminist Studies Vol 48 Number 1, honoring 40 years of This Bridge Called My Back and But Some of Us Are Brave!; We Are Each Other's Liberation-Black & Asian Feminist Solidarities; and Playwriting with Purpose. More at sharonbridgforth.com. dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Oracle Deck The question: What is Infinite Love Offering? The spread order: 1. The Present Moment 2. Your Inner Knowing 3. Hidden Influences 4. Advice 5. Possible Roads dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Oracle Deck Created by Sharon Bridgforth, Artwork by Yasmin Hernandez. All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2016 © Geeched Out Productions / Yasmin Hernandez (Artwork). There are nine Oracles (characters from the dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel). Each speaks on four subjects. The text on the back of the cards is from the dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel. In addition, each Oracle has one blank card, which, if pulled, means “you already know.” In other words, they ain’t responding to your question or the situation at hand because you already know what is in your highest interest/greatest good. Centered in African-American artistic and cultural traditions, Sharon Bridgforth's "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady" offers multiple ways via multiple projects for communities to engage in work and conversations that activate collective wisdom and self-determination. dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/The Show premiered at Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis and is streaming on the Twin Cities PBS channel. View it and more at: https://sharonbridgforth.com/dbmml dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Oracle & dem Blessings decks, along with the dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel will be published in 2027 by Sinister Wisdom (https://sinisterwisdom.org) For more, join Sharon's mailing list at: https://sharonbridgforth.com. THE INTERVIEW This interview was conducted between Sharon Bridgforth and Jae Nichelle on March 18, 2026. Firstly, these oracle cards are gorgeous. What led to your decision to create cards using the text and characters from the dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel? Can you speak to your process of picking the excerpts for each card? All of my work starts in what my mentor, Laurie Carlos, would call the bone marrow. For me what that means is that I’m investigating what needs to be healed in me. However, with research, Spirit, creative process, collaboration and rigor, the Work becomes itself and ultimately it isn’t about me . . . it is an Offering for those that receive it. I began the process of writing dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel because I was dealing with grief after three of my six parents transitioned. My daughter and I did a lot of processing and storytelling and a lot of laughing and appreciating them, which really helped me hear them/learn from them/and heal my relationship with them. This lead me towards writing what became the dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel. After Working the Work/after the piece became itself . . . the characters kept talking. So I said, I’ma make you Oracles and you can talk to everybody! There are 9 Oracles (characters from the Performance Novel) in the deck. They each speak on four things, which include a blank card. If you pull a blank card, it means you already know. The text on the cards is from the script. The process of creating the deck happened very swiftly. It moved through me and didn’t require a lot of “thinking.” It was more feeling and following Divine Intuition. I was very fortunate that a visual artist that I adore and deeply respect, Yasmin Hernandez (https://yasminhernandez.art), was available and willing to work with me as the artist for the deck. We worked seamlessly together and with a lot of Joy. Yasmin's visual art, Knowing and connection activated the deck. In terms of pulling cards when I do readings, my question is - what is Infinite Love Offering or what does Infinite Love want us to Know right now? The dat Black Mermaid Man Lady project includes a show, oracle deck, home project, dem blessings, the performance novel, and a performance installation. That’s amazing. What have these different mediums revealed to you about your creative process and artistic desires? I feel really fortunate to have had funders, organizations, institutions, artists and audiences that really showed up for me and made it possible for me to explore the work in all these different ways over a long period of time. This includes long-time collaborators, like my daughter, Sonja Perryman, and the literal genius (MacArthur Fellow) Walter Kitundu. The thing that I learned is - for me the work is never done. My curiosity about how a piece might Live continues, but after a certain amount of time and various kinds of explorations, it becomes clear to me that it's time to surrender the Work to what it wants to be out in the world and move on. I do feel that I continue to learn from the Work, and I get to experience it over and over - even after my surrender of it, because there are so many people that are connected to it in different ways. So I get to remain in Circle/in conversation with it. The dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Performance Novel, the Oracle Deck and dem Blessings will be published in 2027 by Sinister Wisdom, so I’ll get to be in process again out in the world with the Work/which I’m really excited about. Also, 53rd State Press is publishing a collection of my Work that will include dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/The Show. dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/The Show is streaming on the Twin Cities PBS platform. You speak often about working in the lineage of “theatrical jazz,” explaining in a 2022 interview that “like a jazz artist… you practice with rigor, but what you're really trying to do is to open so that the portal of the thing that you haven't done, the sound that you've never heard can come through.” This type of process involves letting go of perfection and the ideas you have about how your work should come out. Did relinquishing control in this way come naturally to you, or has it been a journey? It has been quite a Journey. A Journey that has Opened different roads of growth and healing in ways that I would never have experienced if not for the Work. I think that because I was not formally trained as a performance maker, and because I was shaped by groundbreaking artists whose focus was on using art as a vehicle for social justice . . . I was free and encouraged in following curiosity, passion and intuition. AND early on I had the privilege of being Blessed to work with seasoned performers, like Sonja Parks, Florinda Bryant, and Zell Miller III. I had support early on from Lori Wilson and organizations including (the original) Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre, Women & Their Work, allgo and the National Performance Network. I was supported by academics like Omi Osun Joni L. Jones and E. Patrick Johnson. I was mentored by seminal artists like Laurie Carlos, Robbie McCauley, raúlrsalinas, Marsha Anne Gomez, and Ana Sisnett. In my early days in Austin (I moved there from L.A. in 1989), I worked as a disease intervention specialist, a community organizer, and a HIV outreach worker. By 1998, I chose to become a self-employed artist because I felt that I couldn't continue to grow as an artist and have "day jobs." Weaving what I learned as an activist was already a part of how I Visioned my Work and process. As I grew, I reached a point where more surrender was required of me in order for me to move deeper and more expansively into my creative practice and artistic voice and imagination. That's a whole nutha/long Circle of stories though. Your newest book, before you go: an Offering came out in 2025. What do you wish more people knew about this project? Everything I have ever written. All the roads I've gone down and the Portals I've walked through lead me to this book. To the Work of me metaphysically looking my Mother in her eyes and saying, I Love you and I know that you Love me. It has Opened the doors for me to extend forgiveness to myself for the ways that I feel I failed as a Mother. And this tending has manifested grace that I now see and feel in every aspect of my Life. Ultimately - this the book is an Offering for the reader. My prayer is that it supports Opening/Shifting/healing for those that Journey with it as they walk with and tend to whatever shards of Love that is broken inside of them that they choose to focus on. What spots in LA do you recommend writers visit if they’re seeking inspiration or community? Well, I know this is not really a response to that question...but here is what that question makes Rise in me . . . For me it has always been about people vs places. Growing up here and having returned home after having lived away for 28 years, this is still true. Los Angeles is huge. It is FILLED with incredible people, organizations, events, gatherings, happening and neighborhoods that Offer global experiences - powerfully/beautifully/and connectedly. For instance, one of my all time favorite/don't miss L.A. happenings is FandangObon, which I got to know about and become a part of because I had the Blessing of being in Circle with it's founder, Nobuko Miyamoto, at the Art2Action and Pangea World Theater's National Institute for Directing and Ensemble Creation, in Minneapolis, MN. (which Laurie Carlos introduced me to back in the day). FandangObon is, to me, a perfect example of the real L.A. One that gathers/welcomes/and activates cultures-traditions-people from many places in magnificent powerful art filled Circles. No genre can hold you. Your plays are poetic and musical and leap off the page into interactive, communal performances/rituals. Who are your inspirations for writing that defies boundaries? To name just a few: My mentors, that I listed above. The elders in my blood family. Plus (not in order): Langston Hughes Sekou Sundiata Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Urban Bush Women Ntozake Shange Michelle T. Clinton Nobuko Miyamoto Tons of great books, music and documentaries have Inspired me. Like: Tootie’s Last Suit, All on a Mardi Gras Day and Zarico "Field to Factory: Voices of the Great Migration: Recalling the African- American Migration to the Northern Cities" by Smithsonian Folkways Video and audio: Schomburg’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Oral History Project Katherine Dunham’s book, Island Possessed Clip of her field work (Sango) Satchmo, My Life in New Orleans, by Louis Armstrong The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus by Murray Schwartz and Peggy Schwartz Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Gayle Wald Africans in Colonial LA., by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall Faith In Time: The Life Of Jimmy Scott, by David Ritz To Be or Not to Bop, Memoir by Dizzy Gillespie The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabelle Wilkerson My wife, Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jone's seminal book, Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the Power of the Present Moment And MUCH MORE!! What is feeding you these days? My grandbaby. The sense of awe and wonder and discovery that I experience when I with her. The Blessing that I get to Know/and Fully feel - that she is the evidence that Love Is. You were Torch Magazine’s very first featured ‘Flame’ in 2006! In that interview, when asked to define success, you said “how I’m living is a reflection of my success.” If you could, what would you tell your twenty-years-ago self about how you’re living now? I decided to pull a dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/dem Blessing in response to this. See the attached card (#28): How can people support you right now? Join my mailing list: https://sharonbridgforth.com And DON'T TAG "me" on no social media - I ain't there, so if you see "me" it ain't me. I am only on Substack (where mostly I just read what other people write vs a lot of posting). Name another Black woman writer people should know. Alexis Pauline Gumbs ### 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.

Audrey Patricia Williams (she/her) is a queer Caribbean writer and journalist whose work lives at the intersections of culture, identity, and womanhood. Moving between features, interviews, and cultural commentary, her storytelling holds a magnifying glass to the Black experience, exploring its tensions as much as its beauty. As a Brooklyn native raised by Guyanese immigrants in the American South, Audrey’s perspective is rooted in both curiosity and connection. Her work has appeared in ESSENCE, Inc. Magazine, New York Magazine, Refinery29, and Bustle. Audrey is also a co-director of the award-winning short documentary Black Girl Church. Currently, she is working to create supportive spaces for Black writers and build community as organizer of The Word, a literary salon series based in Atlanta. Pottery Lesson I was a lump of clay once. An unformed thing: soft, pliable. Passed from hand to hand, I began to take shape, though I didn't know it was happening at the time. Truthfully, I didn't know much about any of what was happening to me then. Only that I was, and if I was going to continue to be, I would have to learn what each push and pull required of me. During that throwing time, a kind of childhood, I was wedged between heavy hands and rigid surfaces. I was centered by the steady spin of women made to care for me. In their palms and under curled fingers, I felt the clutch of a people who'd had too much taken away to allow themselves a weak grasp. Weakness, too close to slackness, was a forbidden state for anything in their reach—children included. Girl children especially. It was a thing I learned in small ways and big ways: you do not kick your shoes off and leave them anywhere you please (you slide them neatly, side by side, under the bed); when you bathe, don't just stand under the water (scrub well with soap so you don't become a dirty-skinned red girl); look at me when I talk to you (to do so is to show respect and to not is to get a swift slap each time until you remember). The women found weakness in me in places I'd never think to look, and mostly, I hated them for it. But what I felt more than hate, or maybe just tangled up within it, was awe. I wanted to shape myself. I wanted hands like theirs. Hands that knew what to do. The first thing I asked to be taught was how to wring a washcloth dry. There was nothing a young woman was judged by more than her cleanliness. Being in charge of my own was the first responsibility they gave me once I graduated from the protection of childhood. At six, I could wash my own face, I could brush my own teeth, I could wipe my own ass. They just had the final say as to whether I'd done it right. Every morning, I got myself ready for school, and every morning I presented myself for approval. The greased-face, pink-tongue, clean-tail, were fine. The bathroom, the place I’d done it all, rarely ever was. The most consistent complaint: water, in collected pools and puddles, around the sink. The washcloth I left hanging always held more water than my hands could squeeze out, and the drip-drip-drip of what was left betrayed me. Its wet mess turned me dirty in my caregivers’ eyes. When I could no longer bear the suck-tooth, cut-eye disgust of the women who knew how to control water, I sent myself to the wheel. "That’s what you does call dry?” Twisting soaked terrycloth, I looked at the stern-faced Trinidadian woman I called grandmother standing behind me, over me, through the bathroom mirror. Worry whirred inside me. I tried to center myself against the flattened tone of her sing-song island patois. Her eyes, ringed with the milky blue-gray of their years, were still sharp. Even translated by a reflection, they told me the question didn’t call for an answer, just an action. “Fold it over and do it again.” The weight of being watched by a woman who missed nothing made my body stiff with uncertainty. My hands, small enough to fit in hers twice, were already red and raisined. As far as I knew, the towel was dry. I saw the water gush, I heard it squelch. Still, she pushed. And so, I gave, the fibers digging into me with each opposing turn—my left hand away from me, my right hand toward me, wrists pleading—until the damp cloth stung my palms, now raw. Water quietly trickled through my fingers. I untwisted the towel and turned to hold it up before her. She looked at it (I prayed not a drip would fall), then looked at me (I prayed I didn't look too proud), and took it. I studied her hands as she retwisted the cloth. They’ve held me since I was a two-month-old baby, motherless and new. The first things I knew were what they sounded like against a Sunday tambourine—staccato, sure—and what they felt like against my face—hot, hard. Hers were the only hands I’d ever seen lift steaming buss-up-shut right from the ghee-slick tawa pan and clap-clap the roti, revealing its flaky, papery layers. And though I hadn’t seen them do this myself, I believed when she told me they used to take heavy, cotton linens from rich, British houses and wash them—“scrub, scrub, scrub, like so, here”—with lye and hot, soapy water against ridged steel washboards. Her hands were both hope and haunt. And when she unfurled the washcloth, not able to extract any more water from its exhausted fibers, mine had become the same. This was the way it went with all of the women who shaped me. Daughters and mothers and daughters-turned-mothers, many of whom are now long dead or long gone, told me how to be, and I was. Each one my maker, yet none quite my mother, entrusted with the soft earth of an unclaimed girl, appointed with giving her a form worthy of fire. But even after the kiln, clay has memory. It warps, it twists, it bends, the tension of the firing at odds with the tension of its many-handed shaping. What you end up with is an imperfect vessel struggling to remember what was against what must be. I’m beginning to remember. Maybe because I have a daughter now, and she, too, is an unformed thing. I see her—plastic, workable—and wonder whose hands I am using. My sink hasn’t been dry since she could reach it, but on her own, she can get her ass close to clean. She understands a tongue, when properly brushed, should be pink, though I still ask her to stick her tongue out after brushing to show me. “Ahhh,” she goes. “Ahhh,” I reply, our twin tongues lolling about. We go through jars of Palmer’s cocoa butter by the scoopful, her face glistening from forehead to chin in excess. “Baby, I told you you don’t need that much, you’re wasting it,” I warn, feeling my grasp tighten, seeing her contract in response. I stop myself from telling her, “at your age, I had to…” because at her age I know I was only being shaped, not loved. And now, a daughter-turned-mother myself, I want her to know my heart before she knows my hands. So if I must warp and twist and bend after all this time, I will warp and twist and bend myself into a mother who knows how to hold her child in both. ### 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.

Jae Broderick is an award-winning lyricist, librettist, composer, and the author of DeConstructing Criticism and Or You Could Just Not. When she isn’t working, Jae can be found practicing her backhand or on a plane to somewhere amazing because, um, “writers need to experience things.” Documenti is excerpted from her forthcoming novel, A Few Good Years. Documenti Puglia. 2025. Zia said it was because of the grapes. That the flies infecting every corner of the città were drawn south by the fertilizer i contadini used to sweeten the soil. Acres and acres of vines laden with fruit were slowly ripening under the Mediterranean sun, too bitter to eat but perfect for wine. The farmers covered the vines to avoid the many enemies that lay waiting to spoil the crop. Rain, wind, rot and pests. But the flies were patient. Persistent. They seemed ambivalent about the grapes and chose instead to cosplay mosquitoes. Hovering, circling, dodging, disappearing just long enough to be forgotten, then reappearing as a barely perceptible touch on bare skin that vanishes long before flailing hands fanned the air where they had been. They did not bite. They only bothered. There was no peace. At the Ministero della Giustizia, where we waited outside the guard’s window, there were no flies. There, in that blessed stillness, Zia was trying to convince the guards to allow me, an American, to visit my Italian cousin in prigione. The guard began shaking her head almost as soon as Zia started. “Mia nipote vive a New York e non…” Shake shake shake…the guard looked towards her colleague. “Per favore, è solo per un’ora…” Shake shake shake…then rapid Italian no amount of duolingo could help me understand. Zia was working hard to get me into prison. Please let her in this prison. Please let her see her family. Per favore. Something about Zia’s pleading made my stomach turn. The irony was too much. When my plane took off from JFK, I’d felt relief in leaving America and her chaos behind. The country was trapped in a death spiral and we all knew it. Some watched mournfully. Others cheered. It was as though the civil war had never ended. Perhaps it had not. I’d envisioned spending the next month bouncing between the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, making side trips to Spain and Switzerland, basking in the glory of Rome and vino vino vino. But instead of escaping a prison, I found myself outside one. Per favore. The guards wanted documenti. I offered my passport but it wasn’t enough. They needed something to prove that Zia and I were family. Such a document did not exist. Zia was an outside baby. My father’s father had an affair with Zia’s teenage mother and promptly discarded her when she fell pregnant. Zia moved to England with her mother, then to Italy on her own. It wasn’t until 40 years later that Zia learned she had a brother. They enjoyed a mostly joyous decade-long reunion until he died suddenly. Between them there had been remembrance and resemblance, but no documenti. I shrugged to let Zia know that it was ok to give up. Her eyes apologized. I smiled my thanks and went outside. The prigione lies mere steps from the seaside. What cruel irony is this? To smell the sea but never feel it. I sit on a bench, close my eyes, and listen to trickling water. Not of the sea but the fountain before me. It is a monument built to commemorate soldiers lost in World War II. Their names etched in stone and remembered for posterity. I felt a sudden anger rising. Where are our monuments? What is posterity without documenti? Where is our proof of life? Opening my passport, I stared at the face it held. Lineage remembered in my mother's nose, my grandmother’s cheekbones, my father's eyes. My great-grandmother was born in St. Mary, Jamaica, just two generations out of slavery. Birth announcements came by word of mouth in conversations between neighbors going to and from the river. My grandmother was born in Oracabessa under a British flag. She remembers waving to European tourists as they passed through on their way to parts of the island she would never see. Her birth certificate says she was born in January, but her mother told her she was born in July, and since she is far more Leo than Capricorn, they chose a day and celebrate her in the summer. Among her generation, few know their real birthdays. My mother was born in Jack’s River eight years before the island gained its independence. In those days, births were registered in government offices a day’s journey away. If a friend of a friend were traveling to the city, they may be so kind as to register your child’s birth for you. And if in the chaotic swirl of buses, trains, dust, and a hot sun, they forgot the name you’d requested, you said thank you and accepted the name that was given. All but one of my grandmother’s six children migrated. They took what documenti they had and spread across the globe like so many before them. Europe, England, Canada, America, but not Africa. Although they came from distinct cultures, they were dismayed to find the world had merged their histories into a tribe called Hue, and that their experiences would differ in accent but not in meaning. There were rules. Assimilate Know your place Love yourself in theory Derive specialness from your isolation Celebrate their goodness Forgive them their silences Marry them Smile at their jokes Glide over subtext Demur Hate your hair Defer Revel in being the only Demote your language Embrace theirs Never forget you’re not protected Last night, as the bells rang out in the square, I had observed with delight the ancient rituals. Nonna and her sisters huddled together nodding and speaking at once, children playing football under a full moon, and old men surveying the scene in a synchronized passeggiata. Zia moved through all of it like a swan. Hips softly swaying, Hermes scarf slung across her shoulders, high heels barely touching the cobblestoned streets, eyes gazing at nothing in particular, her gait an armor designed to protect from the silence that hung in the air after her unanswered buona seras. No one sees how furiously the swan kicks beneath the surface just to keep going. That glide comes with a cost. We who know, know. I was born in a hospital. I am only five generations out of slavery, and my documenti will not save me. Zia emerged from the Ministero della Giustizia, her eyes haunted by what I had not seen. “How is Cousin?” I asked. “She’s depressed. She wants to come home.” Zia said. I’ve been in Italy for a week and I still don’t know what Cousin did. Zia has a way of talking in circles, then changing the subject to food. Works every time. I link my arms with Zia’s and we walk together. Family. A light breeze blows as we head towards the parking lot followed by a halo of flies. ### 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.

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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 Announces First Ever Nominations for Best New Poets Anthology Apr 29, 2026 Two Torch Features, Tiezst "Tie" Taylor and Mecca M. Miles, are Torch’s inaugural nominees for their outstanding poems. In celebrating National Poetry Month and of 20 years of creating space for Black women writers, Torch is excited to nominate two poems from Torch Magazine to the Best New Poets Anthology. This is the first time Torch has nominated poets, and is excited to add another national recognition to the many nominations Torch Features can be considered for. Other prizes Torch nominates its writers for include Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, and O. Henry Prize. “Nominating Torch Features for awards is one of the best parts of being Associate Editor for Torch Magazine,” said associate editor Jae Nichelle. “In this literary landscape where Black women writers have so many barriers to entry, nominating our features gives us one more way to spotlight the incredible writers in our community.” Created in 2005, the Best New Poets Anthology focuses on highlighting 50 poems from emerging writers across the United States and Canada. Nominations can come from literary magazines, annual writing competitions, and graduate-level programs. You can learn more about the Best New Poets Anthology here . Our Two Torch Nominees Are: " High John [a duplex] " by Tiezst "Tie" Taylor " God Whispers on Leyland Drive " by Mecca M. Miles ### 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 Tiezst "Tie" Taylor Tiezst “Tie” Taylor is a Disabled Black femme who is non-binary trans. They are a radical educator, artist-activist, poet, and storyteller. They have earned degrees in education (B.A. in the individualized major of Teaching for Social Justice, New York University & M.S.Ed in Elementary Education, University of Pennsylvania), and are a proponent of disability justice and abolitionist frameworks. Their work explores their experiences in surviving: Disability and severe mental illness; intergenerational trauma and poverty; and intersecting forms of oppression. They use their art and research to educate, heal, nurture, radicalize, and catalyze change for all marginalized peoples. Tiezst is an Emerge 2025 Fellow with San Francisco State University’s Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability, where they are working on an essay for publication on the criminalization of mental illness as it intersects with Black woman / femme identity. They were a Spring 2024 Brooklyn Poets Fellow and a past awardee of the NYSCA/NYFA Artists with Disabilities Grant. Tie’s work appears or is upcoming in Lucky Jefferson , Querencia Press , Midway Journal , Shō Poetry Journal , and ANMLY . Follow Tiezst on Instagram @tiezst. About Mecca M. Miles Mecca M. Miles is a Black, queer writer and spoken word poet from San Antonio, Texas. Her work has appeared in such publications as Wellspringwords Literary Anthology , The San Antonio Review , Texas Bards Anthology , When the River Speaks , Voices de la Luna , Voices Along the River , and has been featured on Best of Button Poetry . She has competed nationwide, taking 8th in Florida at the Exit 36 Slam in 2023 and 8th in Dallas, TX at the Right to Write Slam in 2024. She has featured at a number of local venues and is the 2024/2025 Poetry Grand Slam Champion of San Antonio, TX. 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