Write On!

Write On! Black Writers on Art, Writing & Liberation

Compiled by A. Jarrell Hayes, 2018 “The history of art is so vast that no one should enter into it feeling isolated and unwelcome.�

A. Jarrell Hayes Person. Storyteller. Work-in-progress. A. Jarrell Hayes writes fiction, fantasy and poetry (as A. J. Hayes). He transforms his writing into zines and eBooks. For more on his writing, visit his website at www.ajhayes.com.

Subscribe to his free eNewsletter for updates on new book releases & events. Members receive two eBooks for joining.

Follow him on Twitter: @ajh_books Like him on Facebook: @ajhbooks1 *** This free digital zine was made possible thanks to monthly contributions from my patrons. Support more writing like this by becoming a Patron. If you prefer to send a one-time tip, I accept CashApp ($ajhbooks1), Venmo (ajh_books) and PayPal. Words = Life

James Baldwin

The bottom line is this: You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can’t, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world.

When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness.

Maya Angelou

The force of somewhere in space which commands you to write in the first place, gives you no choice. You take up the pen when you are told, and write what is commanded. There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.

zora neal hurston

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry.

Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Artists have a responsibility to speak and to act when governments fail, and if we don't do that, we really deserve the world we get.

Alice Walker

In all my life, I have never been free. I have never been able to do anything with freedom, except in the field of my writing.

Langston Hughes

A reading man and woman is a ready man and woman,

but a writing man and woman is exact.

Marcus Garvey

Angela Davis

Part of being a revolutionary is creating a vision that is more humane. That is more fun, too. That is more loving. It's really working to create something beautiful.

Assata Shakur