How to Become Amazing
U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo, poet, storyteller, singer, educator
is the Journal of Expressive Writing's OPEN MIC Featured Author on
April 13, 2022, 7-8:30 p.m. ET.

FROM OUR PRODUCER & HOST
KELLY DUMAR

(she/her) Boston based poet, playwright, daily blogger, and leader of creative writing organizations—in person and online—for 30 years. Kelly's philosophy about teaching and coaching is simple: Your stories are not only meaningful, they are beautiful, and they deserve to be written, crafted and shared.

REGISTER NOW

When I spoke to U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo on the phone to prepare for her upcoming featured reading with the Journal of Expressive Writing, I heard a welcoming voice with a centered presence exuding a warm glow of confidence. When I listened to recordings of U-Meleni performing her poems on stage, I saw—and witnessed—a fearless powerhouse, a speaker with charisma, elegance, passion, and authority. U-Meleni is a tender, fiery, and riveting storyteller whose words, voice and presence thoroughly engaged me. I am so looking forward to her reading this Wednesday night, April 13, at 7:00 p.m. from her poetry collection, Soul Psalms.

I trust U-Meleni will deliver for us a lesson in writing as healing. In fact, she says, “Writing is medicine. Mental Wellness is a human right and art can heal.” And, more than that, she will bring us an engagement with her life story of how to become "amazing."

I live in between two worlds, three tribes, two continents, belonging and not belonging, mahogany dipped in mazhanje juices. You see the elders always told me some day I would be amazing.

Her name was conceived by her mother and father when she was two weeks over her due date, and they were anxiously anticipating her birth. U-Meleni means, “What are we waiting for?” She tells us, “My name has been the compass in my life.”

I come from a long line of medicine women. Spiritual women. Women who pray, who receive wisdom in their dreams . . . and do the work to manifest with help from the most high.

Poet, storyteller, singer, educator, and creative facilitator, U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo is a Zimbabwean American who has performed internationally in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Portugal, and Ireland. She is fiercely passionate about using her voice for women's empowerment, wellness, diversity & inclusion, and the exploration of translation or "hyphenated identities" through her work.

Soul Psalms, her recent poetry collection, is described by the publisher, She Writes Press, as “filled with lyrical and vivid imagery that takes you on an emotional journey toward finding self. Exploring themes of family, love, body image, acceptance, and belonging, Mhlaba-Adebo’s words flow melodically and powerfully, bringing readers to a place of peace. The themes in Soul Psalms may be personal, but they appeal to a universal pull: the desire to become ”well, amazing."

We hope to see you on Zoom Wednesday evening for this remarkable event with U-Meleni, and to hear 15 additional writers read their writing for 3 minutes each in the OPEN MIC that follows.

See you then!
Kelly

More About U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo

U-Meleni was featured on “WGBH Suitcase Stories.” Her poetry collection “Soul Psalms" (She Writes Press) was described by David Updike as “written in a fearless female voice tempered with optimism and healing possibilities of love.” In Spring, 2018 she was a Keynote at the Naturalization Ceremony at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as well as the 15th Annual Refugee Conference in Lowell, MA. During Women's History Month she performed in a staged reading at the Next Stage Arts Project in Putney, Vermont for "Bold Women: Brazen Acts," amplifying women's voices written by Rivka Solomon. She was also featured alongside Yo Yo Ma, David Ortiz and many gifted others in the #StandsWithImmigrants: Projections, a series of large scale Boston portraits, projected onto Boston’s urban landscape to highlight the critical role that immigrants play in our society (the kick off happened at the Edward Kennedy Institute).

Learn even more about U-Meleni at: u-meleni.com

Read U-Meleni's poem, "Burial," published in the Journal of Expressive Writing.

REGISTER NOW to attend/hear U-Meleni followed by our OPEN MIC with 15 writers who will read their work for up to 3 minutes each.

All OPEN MIC events are FREE to attend and OPEN TO ALL, but you do need to register through Eventbrite here.

The Journal of Expressive Writing OPEN MIC is produced and hosted by Kelly DuMar.

Read about our upcoming featured authors on our OPEN MIC page.

Journal of Expressive Writing Submissions
Our Call for Submissions is always open,
because there is never a deadline on creativity. Never a fee to submit.
New content published weekly. All voices wanted!

About the Editor:
Jennifer A. Minotti (she/her) is a Writer-in-Residence at the Center for Women's Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University. For the past 25 years, she has dedicated her professional life toward working for the betterment of society. For 17 years, Jen worked at Education Development Center (EDC)—a global non-profit working to improve education, health, and economic opportunities worldwide—in a variety of technology, research, writing, and leadership roles.

In 2012, Jen founded the Women's Writing Circle as a means to merge her passions for expressive writing, positive psychology, community organizing, women’s health, and social activism. ​In 2020, she founded the Journal of Expressive Writing in order to provide a place for sharing expressive writing, believing that we need this space on a fundamental, human level, individually and collectively. Jen is a graduate of Boston University (B.S.) and Columbia University (M.A., M.Ed). Her writing has appeared in numerous refereed journals, anthologies and literary publications.

• • •

Read Jen's interviews in the Selfish Poet and Pen & Prosper.

Her Risk Is Our Reward:
Catherine Raven, author of Fox and I––An Uncommon Friendship
is the Journal of Expressive Writing's OPEN MIC Featured Author on
March 17, 2022, 7-8:30 p.m. ET.

FROM OUR Journal of Expressive Writing PRODUCER & HOST
KELLY DUMAR

(she/her) Boston based poet, playwright, daily blogger, and leader of creative writing organizations—in person and online—for 30 years. Kelly's philosophy about teaching and coaching is simple: Your stories are not only meaningful, they are beautiful, and they deserve to be written, crafted and shared.

REGISTER NOW

We share a universal basic need for a sense of belonging. Some of us find it in the homes and families we are born into. Others of us have to journey in a search for belonging far beyond “home”––on a quest without a map while enduring acute loneliness. Catherine Raven’s beautiful memoir, Fox and I––An Uncommon Friendship, gives us her map, quest, and discovery in imaginatively crafted prose. Her risk is our reward.

Belonging does not come easily to Raven, who describes her parents as ‘violent,’ wanting her ‘to disappear.’ Having determined that ‘when your own parents don’t want you, no one else will,’ Raven leaves home at 15, throwing herself into college and seasonal backcountry work for the National Park Service. Eventually, she earns a Ph.D. in biology from Montana State University. . .[from a New York Times review by Katherine E. Standefer]

So, after earning her Ph.D. (she achieved this after first passing her GED), she buys land in a glacier-carved Montana valley, miles from the nearest grocery store. Completely alone in the wilderness (no humans with her) Raven builds a rustic cottage, and so begins her story of the friendship that transforms her life-long loneliness. From her cabin, Raven begins paying attention to a wild fox who seems to be paying attention to her. Their friendship begins with great literature––in this case, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

His regular visits, she recognizes, are against the natural order of things: Foxes avoid people as a rule. Yet Fox would remain in his spot, even if she sat barely six feet away in a camp chair, a book in her lap. . . 'It is only with the heart one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye,' the fictional animal tells the prince. Clearly, Raven wonders how Fox will teach the same to her. [From a Washington Post review by Clare McHugh]

Catherine Raven’s quest for belonging, friendship and home is a beautifully written memoir. But, more than that, it’s a beautifully written book about the biological sciences for an audience of non-scientists.

AND, she just won the 2022 the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award for her memoir! Congratulations to Catherine!

With vividly detailed prose, Raven depicts a landscape humming with the vitality of tiny creatures, fragrant flowers, and danger. We are delighted to present the 2022 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award to Catherine Raven for her eye-opening narrative of friendship and discovery. [PEN]

Will you join us Thursday night, March 17, 2022 for the opportunity to hear Catherine Raven read from Fox and I––An Uncommon Friendship? As a community of expressive writers and readers who care deeply about belonging and stories of transformation, we know you will appreciate our time together, including the Q&A with Catherine and the OPEN MIC with 20 writers who pre-registered to read their work for 3 minutes each.

See you then!
Kelly

About Catherine Raven

Our featured writer, Catherine Raven's 2021 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, Fox and I––An Uncommon Friendship, was written while she worked full time as a university professor. Oprah Daily called the memoir about the friendship between a solitary woman and a wild fox "extraordinary."

Catherine Raven earned both her GED and her PhD in Bozeman, Montana, the latter from Montana State University (Biology). She earned a BA in botany/zoology from The University of Montana. She’s a member of Sigma Xi, a scientific honors society, and American Mensa, and a former National Park Ranger. Her natural history essays have appeared in American Scientist, Journal of American Mensa, Montana Magazine, National Geographic-Traveler, and Narrative. Catherine won first place in the 2017 Montana Festival of the Book for nonfiction writing and was the 2019 Grand Prize Winner for book-length non-fiction from the Faulkner Society.

REGISTER NOW to attend/hear Laura Davis followed by our OPEN MIC with 20 writers who will read their work for up to 3 minutes each.

Would you like to read your work for 3 minutes in the OPEN MIC portion of our event? We have just a few spots left. First come, first served + waiting list. SIGN UP NOW.

All OPEN MIC events are FREE to attend and OPEN TO ALL, but you do need to register through Eventbrite here.

The Journal of Expressive Writing OPEN MIC is produced and hosted by Kelly DuMar.

Read about our upcoming featured authors on our OPEN MIC page.

Journal of Expressive Writing Submissions
Our Call for Submissions is always open,
because there is never a deadline on creativity. Never a fee to submit.
New content published weekly. All voices wanted!

About the Editor:
Jennifer A. Minotti (she/her) is a Writer-in-Residence at the Center for Women's Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University. For the past 25 years, she has dedicated her professional life toward working for the betterment of society. For 17 years, Jen worked at Education Development Center (EDC)—a global non-profit working to improve education, health, and economic opportunities worldwide—in a variety of technology, research, writing, and leadership roles.

In 2012, Jen founded the Women's Writing Circle as a means to merge her passions for expressive writing, positive psychology, community organizing, women’s health, and social activism. ​In 2020, she founded the Journal of Expressive Writing in order to provide a place for sharing expressive writing, believing that we need this space on a fundamental, human level, individually and collectively. Jen is a graduate of Boston University (B.S.) and Columbia University (M.A., M.Ed). Her writing has appeared in numerous refereed journals, anthologies and literary publications.

• • •

Read Jen's interviews in the Selfish Poet and Pen & Prosper.