Black Girl Dangerous Writing Workshops

We met our $4000 goal, but you can still contribute! Every dollar contributed over our goal amount will go towards these workshops, to make them even more accessible! There is much work still to do! Give! Give! Please! Thanks!

We are the only ones who can tell our stories. And the best way to make sure our stories get told is to support each other in the telling.

Got ten bucks? How about five?

I'm a writer and a smart, scrappy Philadelphian with a deep love of vegan pomegranate ice cream and fake fur collars. I'm a black feminist and a freaking queer, facts that are often reflected in my stories, which are literary, and which have won me some awards and grants, such as the Astraea Foundation Writers Fund Award and the Leeway Foundation Transformation Award. I have been a finalist for Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award. I just finished a novel and have a short story forthcoming in The Kenyon Review. I have taught queer and women-focused community writing workshops for three years. I am the creator of Black Girl Dangerous, a revolutionary blog. I am a nerd who will correct your grammar, so watch out for that.

Black Girl Dangerous is a radical literary, activist, and occasional popular culture blog where queer-identified women of color make our voices heard on the issues that interest us and affect us, where we showcase our literary and artistic talents, where we cry it out, and where we explore and express our “dangerous” sides: our biggest, boldest, craziest, weirdest, wildest selves.

The Workshops

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” -- Toni Morrison

I would like to offer 4-week intensive and 1-week super-intensive workshops, as well as monthly 1-day workshops, for queer, trans*, and gender-non-conforming writers of color in Oakland, Philadelphia, and Toronto, over the course of six months, beginning in July. We will also offer workshops online, so that writers from all over the country and the world can participate. We will workshop stories, novels, memoirs, essays, articles—whatever prose our writers are working on and need support for. Together, we will get our stories ready for the world! Each 4-week workshop will end with a reading salon where writers share some of the work they created in the workshop with our community.

Workshop is essential for writers. It provides both the structure a writer needs to get the work done, and the feedback and support a writer needs to make a story great. Black Girl Dangerous Workshops are about that and much more. I am working very hard to create an environment where queer, trans*, and gender-non-conforming writers of color can feel safe and nurtured, not only in terms of creating and sharing literary work, but also sharing ourselves, our experiences, our wounds, our truths.

Because money is an issue for so many people in our community, many writers who would benefit from taking these workshops can't afford to. The workshops are priced at the minimum it takes for me to pull them off--it takes a minimum of twenty-five hours a week of my time, plus the costs of space, food, and materials. Still, the cost, which is a fraction of the amount of many writing workshops in the Bay Area, Philadelphia, Toronto, and online, is too much for those of us who can only just afford to pay our rent and buy food (which is a lot of us). It is important to me to be able to provide workshops for writers who wouldn't normally be able to take them, which describes a great many of the writers of color I know. By contributing to this campaign, you will be making it possibe for more writers of color to work on their craft, in a supportive, stuctured, nurturing environment, so that we can produce exceptional stories about our exceptional experiences.

What We Need & What You Get

If I can raise $4000, I can provide six months of workshops at a reduced cost of just $15-50 each for up to 76 queer, trans*, and gender-non-conforming writers of color! All money raised will go towards workshop preparation, workshop space, and workshop materials (I'll pay travel and lodging costs myself). If the $4000 goal is surpassed, the extra money will go towards more workshops for more queer, trans*, and gender-non-conforming writers of color to get the structure and support they need to write and share their masterpieces!

Even if the entire $4000 goal isn't reached, every dollar raised will go to partial scholarships, easing the financial burden as much as possible for each writer.

Here's a breakdown: If I can raise...

$480, I can provide one 4-week intensive prose workshop for up to 6 queer and trans* writers of color.

$1000, I can provide two 4-week intensive prose workshops and one 1-day intensive workshop for up to 18 queer and trans* writers of color.

$1800, I can provide two 4-week intensive prose workshops, two 1-day intensives, and one week-long intensive retreat-style workshop for up to 34 queer and trans* writers of color.

$2300, I can provide three 4-week intensive prose workshops, three one-day intensives, and one week-long intensive retreat-style workshop for up to 46 queer and trans* writers of color.

$3500, I can provide four 4-week intensive prose workshops, five 1-day intensives, and one week-long intensive retreat-style workshop for up to 64 queer and trans* writers of color.

$4000, I can provide five 4-week intensive prose workshops, one week-long retreat-style workshop, and six monthly 1-day workshops for up to 76 queer and trans* writers of color.

What do you get in exchange? The warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing that you have made it possible for queer, trans*, and gender-non-conforming writers of color to build community, elevate their craft, and get their stories out into the world! And perks such as:

• love
• appreciation
• special thanks on the bgd website
• video thanks from the writers you are supporting
• poetry written in your honor

The Impact

Every dollar contributed goes to support queer, trans*, and gender-non-conforming writers of color in producing literary work. There is so much great literary talent in our community. Having a support structure to begin and complete writing projects means that many more of our stories get to be told.

Other Ways You Can Help

Even $10 will help, but if you can't make a monetary contribution, please help the workshop by spreading the word! Post the link to this campaign on your Facebook page and your blog, and tell everyone you know! And be sure to leave a comment in the comment section, telling folks why radical writing workshops for queer and trans writers of color are important!