From the Hill and Beyond #6 by Malik Seneferu

Celebration: The Muses & Melanin Fellowship Reading

Saturday, 2/8/2025
12:30 - 2:30
Koret Auditorium
Main Library

100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States

415-557-4400

A reading and celebration with graduates of the The Muses & Melanin Fellowship for California Black Women Creative Writers. 

Featuring readings from Ariel Ward, Stephanie Teasley, Sasha Simon, Isabel N. Rendon, Amissa Miller, Sabina Letang, Linda A. Jackson, Nicole Cech and Christina Amazan.

This supportive, virtual, fully funded eight-month cohort-based professional development program designed by Lyzette Wanzer is for talented California African American, Afro Latina, and multiracial women creative writers of the African diaspora who aspire to become professional authors. 

In this pilot cohort, participants completed a comprehensive learning and support curriculum that equips them with the strategies, tools, and knowledge they need to transition from creative writing students or hobbyists to professional authors. The fellowship launches attendees into the literary profession with a series of professional development workshops, writing workshops, and co-working sessions. After writing an article, personal essay, or paper in professional manuscript format, fellows will submit their work to publications, conferences, and contests during the last four months of the program.

Lyzette Wanzer’s work appears in over thirty literary journals, books, and magazines. Library Journal named her book, Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives (Chicago Review Press 2022), a Top 10 Best Social Sciences Book. Lyzette is a contributor to Lyric Essay as Resistance: Truth From the Margins (Wayne State University Press 2023), Civil Liberties United: Diverse Voices from the San Francisco Bay Area (Pease Press 2019), and the multi-award-winning The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays (Wyatt-MacKenzie 2012).  A National Writers’ Union and Authors Guild member, Lyzette’s work has been supported with grants from Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco Arts Commission, California Arts Council, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Black Artist Foundry, The Awesome Foundation, and California Humanities, a National Endowment for the Humanities partner. 

 

Author Readings & Lectures

Engage with your favorite writers and discover your next read.

Celebrations

Connect with your community through Library gatherings.

More Than a Month: Black Interest

Connect to engaging discussions and performances related to the Black community.

More Than a Month recognizes important events in Black history, honors community and national leaders and fosters steps towards collective change. Programming features authors, poets and craft classes. 

Spotlight

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.