7 minute read
A Writer's Block
A Writer's Block
When you see the words "Writers Block" you automatically think of a writers worst nightmare. When I think of the words, I think of something drastically different. I think of a community helping each other experience life in a way that may help finish their stories. I had a stint with "writers block" while writing a novel so I began writing poetry to pass the time. That's when it hit me, writers block is not a thing. I still had ideas flowing, I just hadn't experienced enough of who my character was and where I am taking them in order to write the next sentence. That's when I realized it's about perspective, not a "block".
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The overall focus of A Writer's Block is to create a community that shares real life stories and experiences that may help other writers propel their characters. A Writer's Block also aims to promote literacy in adults, Black owned businesses as it pertains to the writing industry, and finally, to promote writers & help expose people to new genres.
Immerse yourself in this exploration of manifestations and curative properties of healing and self-expression through Black literature in the worlds of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Prose
Prose is sophisticated sarcasm and these poets are highly educated on the subject. In rhyme and meter see what they arewriting about in love, life, and heartbreak.
Justin Soldout - Scattered
Ashley Vigo - Poet & Actress
Shakira Brunson - Man of Your Word
EMERGING WRITERS
An emerging author is more about publishing experience and exposure than age. There are many accomplished authors who published later in life, some had no choice while others decided later in life to tell their story . A voice does not become less influential due to age, it becomes more inspirational and that has to count for something. It is not as imperative for emerging to mean “young” as it is for it to represent fearless literature that amplifies Black American voices and our constant contribution to American culture. The industry publishes writings that exploits propaganda that poses a negative narrative of African Americans. Our experiences are more vast than the lifetime of inequalities that have a disproportionate impact on us and our writing should be able to reflect that. As an African American woman and writer, when I think of the word emerge I am automatically transported back to the undeniable wave of horribleness that is slavery and segregation. I am transported to the Harlem Renaissance era, Huey P. Newton's speeches, the Black arts movement and so many more initiatives by Black writers who held their breath and waited to emerge from the murky waters of a nations hatred.
Fast forward to 2022 and we still have writers holding their breath and waiting to emerge from the murky waters of now a riot filled pandemic. Emerging only to see the eerie resemblance to Phillis Wheatley in 1773. 155 years after Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a book, Claude McKay became the first commercially successful African American novelist. To think, hundreds of years later and we are still "emerging" in the realm of literature. We are still becoming the first African American to accomplish a feat in writing. That alone is exhausting. Surely no one can survive wading in the water and barely emerging after 249 years. But still, like air, we rise. As we look at these 6 emerging authors we can only hope that they don't have to wade in the water another 94 years. They all have the potential to impact the writing community in a major way. The talent is insurmountable and it would be the worlds loss if these authors are overlooked for commercial success because of the denigration of the African American community.
MELISSA HOLDER
Author of Ducks on a Pond
A poet who captures your heart with symbolism, sassy metaphors and undeniable wit. Originally from New York, Melissa's poetry gives sarcasm with a southern flair, a nod to her current home state, Georgia. One of the remarkable things about Melissa Holder's poetry is how it treats desire as almost unremarkable. Sensuality is part of the landscape of these poems, and a daughter can casually discuss sexuality and curiosity with her mother. Desire is just one part of Holder's identity and it is folded into an intellect, a curiosity, a slight mischievousness that looks out to the world and notices its oddities and its disruptions
KB BROOKINS
Author of How to Identify Yourself with a Wound
Readers beware! Author of How to Identify Yourself with a Wound, KB Brookins, leaves very little on the writing table. Through poetry and essays KB is vulnerable as they navigate love, identity, and race in an allusive way. In a time when so many of our best poets still hold the reader a bit at arm’s length, the open embrace of KB Brookins poetry is refreshing. Their poems insist that their sass and political insights can be bowed into careful craft rather than masked by ellipses. And yet, their writing is elliptical; wit, passion, and prose hanging on the edge. Lasting prose withheld that the reader can only imagine, and the effect of this is a powerful haunting.
KORI SWEARENGEN
Literary advocate and owner of Rhymes and Spines, Kori Swearengen is a master at her craft. Her second children's book, "To Brown & Black Boys", a prequel to her book Black Girl, Black Girl, encourages respect and unity. Swearengen's writing teaches and inspires young people to navigate their thoughts and emotions. There are leaps and bounds of instilling respect for all cultures and respect for ones self. Whether the reader is 5 or 14, they will find value in the way the writer reassures children that their big feelings are very important. Your child will walk away from this book wanting more and being able to navigate their feelings, understand others, and have more self respect.
JADE BROWN
What Jade Brown accomplished in her debut novel, Vienna, she maximizes in her second novel, Hotel Stuff. Hotel Stuff is hard, but every sentence is beautiful. Basil comes alive as she uncomfortably moves through the novel and transitions. Jade is a captivating writer and the story of Basil has us loving and hating characters. Coming to the defense of our darlings, yet someone truly fictional. That's just it, these characters don't feel fictional at all. Especially Basil. She feels like the sister or cousin you pour into every year when life gets hard for an adolescent. She is the teenager sitting at the table listening to the stories of everyone who has gone through similar things eons ago. Basil is real and watching her come into herself paragraph after paragraph is the literary gift that keeps on giving.
SHAKIRA BRUNSON
Spoken word extraordinaire, Shakira brings her spoken word to books in a way that feels like she's in the room performing for you. Her narrative poetry book, Man of Your Word, exposes vulnerability as well as her compassion and understanding of the struggles her counterparts experience. Lady Kay, as she is known in the poetry community, writers stanzas that strike you, and not an intelligence that is showy or bragging, but the kind of intelligence that holds within it a quality of vulnerability.
CALEB GAYLE
Sandwiched between being the son of Jamaican immigrants and a Harvard grad, emerges Caleb Gayle, confident and conscious. Gayle is the kind of writer we need in the world at this moment and the kind of writer I love to watch as he practices and expands his craft with his new book, We Refuse to Forget: A true story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power. His writing stretches itself into new territories and has you reading a book that you cannot put down. We are always in need of writers to show us new forms, and Gayle is establishing himself as a writer able to do just that. We Refuse to Forget enchants even as it breaks your heart.
