Help Penda attend VONA's Creative Writing Workshop

Hello community,

I am a creative writer, educator, and thinker living and breathing in New Orleans. My work focuses on mother-and-daughter relationships, coming-of-age narratives, African diaspora studies, and slavery. Inspired by my Senegalese heritage, I raise questions about belonging, identity, consent, and pleasure within the 'afterlife of slavery'.

My non-fiction writing marries poetry and creative non-fiction as I write about the relationship between sexuality, Senegal, and immigration. When I read luminaries of the memoir genre like Maya Angelou and bell hooks, I notice that there is a precocious girl who yearns to understand her sexuality, but through every turn, she is criminalized, hypersexualized, and punished. Writing for the Black girl, then becomes a space of refuge to disentangle the cultural trope of what we might call the fast girl. Reading I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and bone black taught me I was not alone. The way my mother inflicted violence on me for my burgeoning sexuality hurt, but it was more than a personal experience; it was a story in which I could probe, contextualize, and come to understand that it reflected a mother's fear of how the world could take advantage of her daughter.

I applied and got into VONA, and am thrilled that I will study under Bridgett Davis in a week of intensive workshops. I fervently believe that my time as a VONA fellow will advance my writing career. I am honored to tell my story as a first-generation Senegalese American, and I fervently believe that attending this workshop will be a life-changing opportunity for my writing career.

As with all things, things cost money. While I did receive a partial scholarship of $225, it is not enough to cover time off from work as well as the remainder tuition balance of $775. Your contribution, like, or share will go a long way for Black girls grappling with their sexuality and relationship with their mother.

With love,

Penda