Love Jawns: A Mixtape I (LJAM) took the form of a spoken word and music podcast from 2018 to 2020. In fall of 2020, I convened an Advisory Circle of community members to reflect on the first two seasons of LJAM and to envision a future iteration. The Love Jawns: A Mixtape II project was created in response to the insights and ideas shared by the LJAM Advisory Circle. In 2022, I convened an intergenerational Writers Room. The LJAM II writers room sessions were held from April to June 2023 and attended by the five emerging women writers selected to participate in the process (Carol Richardson McCullough, Sabree Johnson, Keyssh Watts, Bianca Davies, and Imani Palmer). Each session was led by one of four professional poets (Trapeta B. Mayson, Tracie Morris, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, and Ursula Rucker). Each of the poets led customized, generative writing workshops to inspire the women’s writing and thinking about their personal and collective journeys. Each of the amateur writers was paid a monthly stipend for their participation and received a grant at the end of the process to pursue their training as writers/poets. The film will focus on the tender, authentic connections between the women–both the writers and their mentors, illuminated and documented through the writers room sessions, hence the new title Love Jawns: A Writers Room.

Lead Organizer: Yolanda Wisher