LET HER TELL IT PR photo

Panel: LET HER TELL IT! Black Women Healing Through Writing

Sunday, 7/19/2020
2:00 - 3:30
Virtual Library
Address

United States


A panel of Black women writers and mental health advocates find freedom from their struggles through writing. 

People love the sassy, strong Black female character. From Florence on The Jeffersons to Cookie on Empire, she is someone who is entertaining, admired, even feared. Contrary to these images, Black women aren’t made of Vibranium. We’re dealing with challenges impacting our mental health such as high rates of domestic violence, stress, racism, sexism, homophobia etc. Many of us secretly carry shame for living with mental health challenges because we’re expected to be emotionally invincible. 

This group of writers and mental health advocates is disrupting the silence. They have suffered from stigma yet eventually found freedom through their words. Now they are telling their stories so others struggling will know they have nothing to be ashamed of. Some stories are heavy, others mixed with humor. All are real. 

Reservations required: https://bit.ly/kjLetHerTell7-19-20

This event will simultaneously be broadcast on the SF Public Library YouTube.

The panel of writers includes: 

Kira Lynne Allen is a poet, performer, collage artist, activist, and a Certified InterPlay Leader. She is a four time VONA Voices Fellow, a Poetry for the People alumna, a phenomenal workshop facilitator and a motivational speaker. She is a contributor to All the Women in My Family Sing, Tayo Literary Magazine and Endangered Species, Enduring Values. She has more than a dozen poems in anthologies and two self-published chapbooks. Write This Second: A Poetic Memoir charts her journey from desecration to divinity; from addict and high school dropout to master’s degree recipient, in order to sound an alarm meant to reveal and disrupt the roots of rape culture by proclaiming our authentic selves. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Mills College and an MA in Transformative Arts from JFK University. Kira grew up in the Bay Area and raised two brave, brilliant, resilient daughters in Oakland, CA; where she still lives with her partner Kat. 

Jeneé Darden is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, mental health advocate and proud Oakland native. She has reported for such outlets as NPR, Time, Ebony, KQED, and The LA Times. She hosts KALW’s arts segment Sights & Sounds, and is also their East Oakland reporter. Check out her documentary Where is East Oakland? on Youtube. Her first book is a womanist collection of poetry and essays titled When a Purple Rose Blooms (Nomadic Press). She writes about her personal experiences with love, sex and mental health as a Black woman. Jeneé hosts the blog Cocoa Fly and is pitching a book about Black sexuality. Visit CocoaFly.com to read her series Under the Covers: The Popularity and Debate Over Black Erotic Literature. Jeneé holds a BA in ethnic studies from UC San Diego and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California.  

Natalie Devora’s memoir about living with albinism is Black Girl, White Skin: A Life in Stories (BookBaby 2018). She was senior editor for Ache: A Journal for Lesbians of African Descent and has been featured on NPR’s Code Switch. Her work has appeared in various anthologies and can be found on medium.com. Her current project is Shining Light: Stories from the Global Albinism Movement.

Adrienne Danyelle Oliver, MFA, EdD, teaches English and creative writing at Laney College. Her academic work is published in Storytelling, Self, and Society (Wayne State University Press 2018) and Systemic Collapse. Her creative work has been published in Digital Paper and The Womanist. She is a VONA fellow and leads a virtual writing and healing circle for Black women. 

Kelechi Ubozoh is Nigerian-American and co-editor of the essay collection We’ve Been Too Patient: Voices from Radical Mental Health (North Atlantic Books 2019). She was featured in the award-winning documentary The S-Word, about suicide attempt survivors. Her story has also been in O Magazine and on Gayle King’s CBS This Morning. Currently, Kelechi is a consultant working with clients dedicated to transforming mental health, substance use services, as well as justice system reform and workforce development. Her website is www.KelechiUbozoh.com.



Summer Stride is the Library's annual summer learning, reading and exploration program for all ages and abilities. Read and learn with the Library all summer long.

Engage with your favorite writers and discover your next read.


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


Attending Programs

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

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.