Let Her Tell It: Black Women Writing on the Body and Mind

Saturday, May 7 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Brower Center – Tamalpais Room

• Poetry
• Race/Identity
• Women/Gender

Kira Lynne Allen, Jenee Darden, Natalie Devora, Kelechi Ubozoh, adrienne danyelle oliver

Many Black women have a complex relationship with their bodies. Historically their bodies have been racialized, hypersexualized, exoticized, abused, exploited for labor and othered. Stressors in their lives effects both their physical and mental health. But Black women also nurture their bodies, celebrate their bodies, and give themselves permission to enjoy pleasure. These Black women writers will share poetry and stories about their bodies, while showing how physical health affects mental health and vice versa. Whether it’s fighting fibroids or reclaiming their bodies after harm—these writers are telling their stories to disrupt what they’ve been mistaught about their bodies. This panel is inspired by EMBBODI Attunement Retreat the writers attended where they created body maps: life-size canvases of their bodies that artistically express their perceptions of and experiences with their bodies.