The Barbara Smith Residency
The Barbara Smith Writer-in-Residence program is a 3 month-long residency that is designed to assist emerging and professional literary artists of color bring substantive literary works to completion for publication. It is named in honor of Cleveland-born renowned feminist, social justice activist, and LGBTQ advocate, Barbara Smith, who is also co-founder of the Combahee River Collective and The Kitchen Table Press, which published works like “This Bridge Called My Back” by Rosario Morales.
A total of four writers (two from Northeast Ohio and two from outside Northeast Ohio) are accepted each year by a five-person jury.
The program provides two application periods – one for local writers and one for national writers.
For writers based in Northeast Ohio, TLA provides:
• $5,000 stipend
• Office space
• Opportunities for mentorship, peer editing, and public readings
For writers from outside Northeast Ohio, TLA provides:
• $5,000 stipend
• A one-bedroom apartment
• Office space
• Opportunities for peer editing, public readings and salons
The Barbara Smith Writer-in-Residence program is funded by the George Gund Foundation.
Residents
Meet the former and current residents of the Barbara Smith Writer-in-Residence program
2022
Elizabeth-de-Souza
Elizabeth de Souza’s first book, “Sleeping in the Fire: Reclaiming the Lost Legacy of M. Bunch Washington and Other Seminal Black Visual Artists in America”, is forthcoming. Her work was recently featured by Torch Literary Arts, a nonprofit organization based in Austin, established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women.
Nina Domingue-Glover
Nina Domingue-Glover’s children’s play“Web of Anansi” is currently being produced by Near West Theatre in partnership with Twelve Literary Arts. The production was performed at NWT during Black History Month, and a video of the production and accompanying Teacher’s Guide is now available to schools across Northeast Ohio.
Quartez Harris
The Ohio Poetry Day Association selected Quartez Harris as its Ohio Poet of the Year for 2021 for his collection of poems, “We Made It To School Alive” published by Twelve Arts Press. Quartez’s current works in progress are two picture books and a young adult novel in verse. Quartez is represented by McKinnon Literary Agency. Quartez is currently engaged in a book drive that invites individuals to purchase a copy of “We Made It To School Alive” for donation to inner city high school students. To support the effort, order a copy here.
Adebe DeRango-Adem
Adebe DeRango-Adem was recently selected as one of two first-place winners for the Boston Review’s Annual Poetry Contest. Adebe’s winning poems will appear in The Boston Review’s special winter arts issue, titled Repair. To be among the first to read it, order a copy here. For a limited time, use the code “ARTS20” at checkout to receive 20% off and free domestic shipping.
2021
Jason Harris
Jason Harris is a poet and a NEOMFA candidate. Pronouns are he/him/his. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Winter Tangerine, TRACK//FOUR, OCCULUM, Longleaf Review, Wildness Journal, Peach Mag, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Gordon Square Review, and others. He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of BARNHOUSE Journal, a contributor for Watermelanin Magazine, and lives in Cleveland, OH. His first full-length collection of poems is forthcoming from Twelve Arts Press in 2021.
Natasha Oladokun
Natasha Oladokun is a poet and essayist. She holds fellowships from Cave Canem, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Jackson Center for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, Harvard Review Online, Pleiades, Kenyon Review Online and elsewhere. She is associate poetry editor at story South, and is the inaugural First Wave Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2020
Adebe DeRango-Adem
Adebe DeRango-Adem is Twelve Literary Arts' first International Barbara Smith Writer-in-Residence. Adebe is a writer and former attendee of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics (Naropa University), where she mentored with poets Anne Waldman and Amiri Baraka.
She is the author of three full-length poetry collections: Ex Nihilo (Frontenac House, 2010), which became a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, Terra Incognita (Inanna Publications, 2015), which was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and The Unmooring, published in 2018 by Mansfield Press. Adebe begins her residency in December 2019.
She is the author of three full-length poetry collections: Ex Nihilo (Frontenac House, 2010), which became a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, Terra Incognita (Inanna Publications, 2015), which was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and The Unmooring, published in 2018 by Mansfield Press. Adebe begins her residency in December 2019.
Elizabeth de Souza
Elizabeth de Souza is a writer and educator whose work explores the intersection of artistic genius, culture, and psychology, with a particular interest in the arts of the African Diaspora. She is also an emerging curator.
In the past year, Elizabeth was a Finalist for the Creative Capital Award, the Oxford American Jeff Baskin Writers Fellowship, and the Mary C. Mohr Nonfiction Award. She is a 2019 MacDowell Fellow, and her essays have appeared in publications such as Callaloo and Solstice Literary Magazine.
She currently lives in the Pittsburgh area with her husband and two young children. Her first book, a work of nonfiction entitled “Sleeping in the Fire: The Black Artist in America,” is in progress. Elizabeth begins her residency in March 2020.
In the past year, Elizabeth was a Finalist for the Creative Capital Award, the Oxford American Jeff Baskin Writers Fellowship, and the Mary C. Mohr Nonfiction Award. She is a 2019 MacDowell Fellow, and her essays have appeared in publications such as Callaloo and Solstice Literary Magazine.
She currently lives in the Pittsburgh area with her husband and two young children. Her first book, a work of nonfiction entitled “Sleeping in the Fire: The Black Artist in America,” is in progress. Elizabeth begins her residency in March 2020.
Cassandra Lopez
Casandra Lopez is a Chicana and California Indian (Cahuilla/Tongva/Luiseño) writer who’s received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf and Jackstraw. She’s been selected for residencies with the School of Advanced Research and Hedgebrook. Her chapbook, Where Bullet Breaks was published by the Sequoyah National Research Center and her poetry collection, Brother Bullet is forthcoming from University of Arizona. She’s a founding editor of As/Us: A Space For Women Of The World and teaches at Northwest Indian College.
Noor Hindi
Noor Hindi (she/her/hers) is a Palestinian-American poet and reporter. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Rumpus, Hobart, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Jubilat. Her essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Gay Mag, American Poetry Review, Literary Hub, and Adroit Journal. Hindi is the equity and inclusion reporter for The Devil Strip Magazine.
2019
Nina Dominigue-Glover
Nina Domingue-Glover, director, actress and storyteller is Twelve Literary Arts' current Barbara Smith Writer-in-Residence. Nina entered the world of theatre through the art of Storytelling. She has written many one person shows including Ya Mama! A play about losing her mother, gaining a stepmother and becoming a mother, which she performed at Cleveland Public Theatre and the New York International Fringe Festival.
In the 2019-2020 theatrical season she is the Nord Foundation Playwriting Fellow and Catapult Artist at Cleveland Public Theatre and the Barbara Smith Writer in Residence at Twelve Literary Arts, Inc.
In the 2019-2020 theatrical season she is the Nord Foundation Playwriting Fellow and Catapult Artist at Cleveland Public Theatre and the Barbara Smith Writer in Residence at Twelve Literary Arts, Inc.
Quartez Harris
Quartez Harris is a poet and elementary school teacher for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Quartez began his residency with Twelve Literary Arts in April, 2019, where he began his collection of poems in progress titled "We Made It To School Alive." The collection captures the plight of black and brown students in urban public schools coupled with personal accounts of teaching in an urban public school district.
Quartez extended his residency with Twelve Literary Arts, becoming a Baldwin House Urban Writing resident, Quartez will become the first poet to publish with Twelve Arts Press in 2020.
Quartez extended his residency with Twelve Literary Arts, becoming a Baldwin House Urban Writing resident, Quartez will become the first poet to publish with Twelve Arts Press in 2020.