Winner of the 2018 Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award

I'm ecstatic to announce that I've been chosen as the winner of the 2018 Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award, which is "open to U.S. residents working to advance writing through public service careers or volunteer work. [...] This award provides an opportunity for those writers who, like Lillian E. Smith, recognize “the power of the arts to transform the lives of all human beings.”

As part of the award, I will receive a $500 honorarium, a $500 travel stipend, and a two-week residency at the Lillian E. Smith Center of Piedmont College.

It's an honor, and I can't wait to write in Georgia!

Help young writers by spending a night with PageSlayers (and friends)

In April I spoke with the Miami Herald and we got a great preview of our very first PageSlayers fundraiser in April. You can read the full article here.

And if you'd like to donate to PageSlayers, visit our donate page!

PageSlayers Is Officially A 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Winning Idea!

On Monday, November 28, PageSlayers became a 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Winner, along with 43 other projects. We are so thrilled to bring creative writing summer camps to Opa-locka during the summers of 2017 and 2018, and to collaborate with our partners, The Opa-locka Community Development Corporation. We're also deeply honored to have the support of the Knight Foundation!

Matt Haggman, Miami Program Director for Community and National Initiatives with the Knight Foundation and Victoria Rogers, Vice President/Arts for the Knight Foundation with PageSlayers Founder & Executive Director, Dana De Greff.

We're still buzzing from the festivities, but we're also looking ahead. The grant is a matching grant, so that means we'll need your help making this happen! If you want to support us, collaborate, work, or volunteer, or simply want to stay in the loop, please join our email list for news and updates. Check back often, and watch out, Miami. PageSlayers is here to stay!

For the full list of winners, go here. 

Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction: "How to Make a Baseball Player Cry"

I'm happy to announce I'm the 2nd place winner of Philadelphia Stories' Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction for “How to Make a Baseball Player Cry." Here's what judge Robin Black had to say:

"This powerful response to Roberto Clemente's life and tragic death has an energy to it and a heart as well that carried me through, engaged and moved, tangled in a respectfully revived sadness from many decades ago. A study in the need for and limits on empathy, 'How To Make A Baseball Player Cry' is a lyrical, affecting story that has stayed with me. Beautifully done."

You can read the full story here. 

PageSlayers Summer Camp: Knight Arts Challenge Miami Finalist

"MIAMI – Sept. 13, 2016 – Sixty-eight ideas were named finalists today in the Knight Arts Challenge Miami, a community-wide initiative funding the best ideas for the arts in South Florida."

Proud to be chosen out of nearly 1,000 submissions for PageSlayers Summer Camp. If my project is chosen, we'll be bringing creative writing sessions to Opa-Locka at The ARC for 4th and 5th graders. Winning ideas will be announced Nov. 28, so check back then for news (hopefully good!).

Homegoing Review

"Having both sides of one family journey home together more than 300 years after the fact is the start of a new truth, a new chapter."

My newest review for the Miami Herald is Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing. Steeped in history about the slave trade in both Ghana and the US, this is one of the best debut novels I've read in a while, and the best book I've read this summer. 

Hope you like the review and read it yourself. If you do, I'd love to know your thoughts!

Feast Miami #7 Tonight! Come Support PageSlayers Summer Camp!

Tonight's the big night! You can support my project, PageSlayers Summer Camp, by attending Feast dinner #7 at SPINELLO PROJECTS, TODAY, June 10, 2016, 8pm–10pm. 

MY PROJECT:

PageSlayers is a series (2) of free, week-long summer camp sessions starting 2017 for 4th and 5th graders in Opa-locka with multiple goals: fostering a love for words at an early age; providing a safe space to develop young voices; and exposing students to writing outside the standard curriculum. At the core of PageSlayers is love and support—for students who can’t afford camp, this is an opportunity to grow as individuals and navigate the world through writing. 

Lessons are taught primarily by local writers of color in genres such as poetry, flash fiction, and fiction. Form and execution is studied, but equally important is showing that inspiration can be found anywhere: conversations with family, comic books, music, and more. Classes are held in The ARC, and the week culminates in a community reading where students perform their original works, which will also be published in a printed and online anthology.

Come out and support writing and young voices of color tonight, June 10 at SPINELLO PROJECTS!!!

Tent: creative writing 2016

"A week-long seminar for writers and readers hosted by the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA."

It's almost time to head to Amherst for my first intensive writing experience! From May 29-June 5, 2016 I'll be attending workshops, readings, and talks about craft and Jewish literary history through Tent. There are only 20 spots available, so it'll be nice and cozy. The fiction workshop will be taught by Sam Lipsyte and we'll also discuss classics of modern Jewish literature with literary scholar Josh Lambert.

So happy to be chosen as a participant this year and I'm looking forward to reading, writing and learning more about my Jewish roots. Oh, and food. Always food. 

Rugelach, be still my corazón...

FEAST MIAMI #7 Finalist: PageSlayers Summer Camp

I'm a finalist! You can support by attending Feast dinner #7 at SPINELLO PROJECTS, Friday, June 10, 2016, 8pm–10pm. 

My Project:

PageSlayers is a series (2) of free, week-long summer camp sessions starting 2017 for 4th and 5th graders in Opa-locka with multiple goals: fostering a love for words at an early age; providing a safe space to develop young voices; and exposing students to writing outside the standard curriculum. At the core of PageSlayers is love and support—for students who can’t afford camp, this is an opportunity to grow as individuals and navigate the world through writing. 

Lessons are taught primarily by local writers of color in genres such as poetry, flash fiction, and fiction. Form and execution is studied, but equally important is showing that inspiration can be found anywhere: conversations with family, comic books, music, and more. Classes are held in The ARC, and the week culminates in a community reading where students perform their original works, which will also be published in a printed and online anthology.

Come out and support writing and young voices Friday, June 10 at SPINELLO PROJECTS!!!

Writing under the influence at Soho Beach House

Soho Beach House, Miami members come out this Wednesday, May 18 at 7 pm, for the second installment of Writing Under the Influence. Hosted by Neil Vazquez, I'll be reading with Neil, Beverly Tan Murray, and more. There'll be light humor, heavy banter and drinks. I may or may not read poetry for the first time. 

2016 Fred Shaw Prize in Fiction

I'm happy to announce that I've been awarded the 2016 Fred Shaw Prize in Fiction from the University of Miami for my short story "How to Make a Baseball Player Cry." Here's what judge and writer Janet Peery had to say:

"How to Make a Baseball Player Cry" had me from its first line and didn't let up for eleven pages until its brilliant final line. With its sophisticated use of second person narration, its fearlessness in moving through time and feeling, driving right up to the brink of sentiment but never going over the cliff, this story takes emotional risks, which are the only risks that truly matter and often make the difference between a good story and a great story. This is a great story. Congratulations to its writer.”

Honored and proud. Here's hoping it gets published soon! 

Thanks for your support

Hi everyone,

I made it, all thanks to you. Friends, amigos, you made my summer. Can't wait to have you read the book one day. Mil gracias, y abrazos muy fuertes!

When I think about my plans as an author and the books I want to put into the world, I see writing as a way to work through bigger social issues, bring attention to people of color and women, and to highlight the necessity for multiculturalism in art and life. Attending the Tin House Summer Workshop will give me the opportunity to have a voice in a space that encourages me to express myself. It will also allow me to connect with and learn from established writers and instructors in the Tin House community.

By the end of the workshop, I plan to leave with a more structured and polished form of my novel in order to publish it by graduation in 2018. 

Sunroom in The New Tropic

“One of my favorite moments in the class was when Dana put on a Bob Marley song, and you could just see all of their heads bobbing up and down.”

During the spring semester I worked with O, Miami teaching poetry to 3rd graders at Orchard Villa Elementary School in Liberty City. It was an amazing experience and you can read more about it here.