Mission Statement:
A speculative fiction writer, proud barista, & award-winning teaching artist, Taiwana works at the intersection of creative writing, community, & coffee to empower queer, trans, disabled, youth, & emerging writer voices through a Black feminist lens.
Taiwana facilitating the January Circle for Torches: an Emerging Writer’s Circle, 2026.
Where She Teaches:
Taiwana leads craft-focused writing activities at Torches: an Emerging Writer’s Circle at Bird in Hand (Baltimore) and offers classes through COMPAS (Twin Cities) and the Loft Literary Center (Twin Cities) while she finishes her debut books. She also offers classes to her client list, which you can join by reaching out to her via email. She invites you to book classes & workshops with her at the “Contact” tab.
Past clients
Black Visions
Carleton University’s TRIO Program
Hamline University’s English Department
In Progress
Macalester University’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities
MN Book Award
Nexus Community Partners (ROOT)
Perpich Center for Arts Education
PiM Arts High School
Saint Paul College
Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists
Upstream Arts
Winona State University
Workshops & Residencies
Alternatives to the Youth Carceral System
An Intro to Abolition Thru Theory, Story, & Creative Writing
Applying Abolition
Contemporary Mythology
Fiction for Social Change
Life After Burnout: Lessons from Abolition & Social Movements
Classes
10th Grade English Language Arts (18 weeks)
Abolitionist Fiction (12 weeks)
Fiction for BIPOC Writers (2 weeks)
First Year Writing 1120: Composition and Research (15 weeks)
Intro to Creative Writing (9 weeks)
Intro to Fiction (18 weeks)
Intro to Poetry & Performance (12 weeks)
Speculative Fiction by Women (6 weeks)
Writing Radically Imaginative Futures (4 weeks)