#blackwomengivelife
Co-presenters: Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Shadra Strickland, Tracey Baptiste, me, and KWE co-director Crystal Allen
That is the hashtag I used in a recent Instagram post I shared by fellow
author and co-presenter Tracey Baptiste after our time at the much
heralded Kindling Words East writing retreat in Massachusetts.
I had filled half of my suitcase with books and thought what I needed was
the time to read and collect my thoughts in between my speaking
sessions. Perhaps too I could find time for chitchat with my peers, whom
I’d been disconnected from throughout the pandemic years, at the bar and
our meals. If I could squeeze in a walk, I’d count the weekend as a win.
But when I arrived I saw several authors I’d only met only online. These
were black authors. Black women authors, whose work I’d read and
admired. And the conversations began.
Between sessions, our fearless organizer, Crystal Allen gathered each one
us together--Janae, Shadra, Vanessa, Daria, Eileen, Lisa, Kekla, Oge,
Tameka, Christine--as a group and then we gathered more, on our own, in
small clusters, in pairs, at dinner, breakfast, at the bar, the lobby, sipping
tea, wherever, whenever, we could
My research books were forgotten as conversations were started and the
laughter never seemed to end. I thought I needed solitude, but it turns out I
needed a community of black women who understood the very unique
issues we face in the world of publishing and beyond. And just when I
needed them most, there they were, providing me with much needed
advice, support, friendship and laughter. Some of them, I’d known through
conferences, others only through their books, but there we were together,
sisters of the heart, rekindled at Kindling Words.
