We Are Urban Haiku

where creativity knows no bounds,

and every story deserves to be told.

Welcome.

We are so happy you are here!

We’re thrilled to welcome you to our vibrant community of writers, dreamers, and storytellers. At We Are Urban Haiku, we believe in the transformative power of storytelling.

As writers, we were hungry for a space to decolonize and re-indigenize our storytelling ways, voices, and culture. We didn’t see one. So we made it. A space for us. A space that actively decenters whiteness.

The idea behind We Are Urban Haiku was born out of a passion for fostering a writing environment that truly reflects the global majority. We wanted to create a platform where every marginalized writer, regardless of their background, feels seen, heard, and valued. Our mission is not just about teaching the craft of writing; it's about dismantling barriers, increasing accessibility, challenging assumptions, and nurturing a community that thrives on the richness of varied perspectives and what happens when we dare to “dance in the cracks.” *

In establishing this emergent space, we envision and continue to dream a rich and magical expanse that encourages exploration, innovation, and the unapologetic embrace of one's unique narrative. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting on your creative journey, we’re here to inspire, guide, and empower you.

We got you. Click here to meet our kick ass team!

*From Bayo Akomolafe, post-humanist, trickster philosopher and curator of the Emergence Network

Our Three Tracks of Classes

For BIPOC folx

For people of color

Join Anya Pearson in conversation with critically-acclaimed BIPOC writers from around the world as they discuss their process, reinventing forms, leaping across genre, creating under extraordinary circumstances, writing as a form of protest or reinvention, healing or metamorphosis, and navigating the various facets of the literary industry as an artist of color.

In order to maintain a safe-space and in the interest of lifting up BIPOC voices, these workshops are exclusively for writers who identify as BIPOC.

Our Guest Artists for 2024 include:

Roxane Gay, Samiya Bashir, Ocean Vuong, Dominique Christina, Patricia Smith, Mahogany L. Browne, Myriam Gurba, Shayla Lawson, Kwame Mbalia, and Monica Prince. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Their beautiful faces and bios are below. 🙌🏾

Ethnoautobiography

For people interested in anti-racist writing

We have to co-create a better, fuller story of who we are. When we speak or write the stories of how our ancestors were harmed or harmed others, we clear the way for justice in the present. When we tell the truth about the past, we move towards the possibility for healing and repair.

Ancestry gives us heritage: “traditions and practices that inform how we move through the world.” Who are our ancestors of blood, love, and spirit? ✨✨✨

With G. Ravyn Stanfield, Ella deCastro Baron, and Anya Pearson

Chronic Illness

For those who navigate chronic illness

Western culture tries to teach us that illnesses have cures. We hunt for antidotes and fix-alls. Yet, those of us with chronic illnesses—in our bodies and minds—persist in the slog of hit-n-miss treatment and diagnoses in-between “flare-up” and “remission.” There’s the isolation.

There are. All. The. Costs.

We’re even gaslit by healthcare professionals when we self-advocate, judged by those who do not/cannot see our inconvenient, uncommon, or invisible illnesses. Our stories are messy, inflamed, transcendent, mundane, stunning.

How do we love our own sick bodies and minds when so often, we are not loved well? 🥄🥄🥄🥄

With Ella deCastro Baron and Anya Pearson

For Bodies of Culture

Our goal in creating We Are Urban Haiku is to foster and nurture the development of other BIPOC/femme/marginalized writers through creating an access point to high quality training outside of the MFA system, including curated conversations with established and successful BIPOC writers, a sense of community, and an affinity space; potent with the reclamation of our voices, our stories, and our worlds.