African American Authors Discuss the Politics of Black Hair

The Event “Trauma, Tresses, & Truth” On Feb. 9, 2023, The Diasporic Peoples Writing Collective (DPWC) hosted a literary event at which several distinguished women authors treated an enthusiastic audience to several readings from their anthology, “Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives.” The anthology contextualizes the many experiences linked to Black hair. The Art Hair is indeed linked to culture, pride, … Continue reading African American Authors Discuss the Politics of Black Hair

Performance and Video Production feat. in a Joint

The Diasporic Peoples Writing Collective (DPWC) premiered a film for San Jose State University’s virtual “Legacy of Poetry” festival on April 17, 2021. The festival was themed Closing the Distance: Sheltering in Technolog(ies), and in it were some of our very own DPWC member-poets featured beside veterans like Daniel B. Summerhill, Tureeda Mikell, Vernon Keeve III, MK Chavez, and Keenan Norris. It was a joint … Continue reading Performance and Video Production feat. in a Joint

Seeds in the palm of a hand

Interview With Author, Persis Karim

Writing and the Importance of Community Living to Make Every Day Count This May, I interviewed Persis Karim, Ph.D., over Zoom. While our conversation meandered through coffee and the struggles of living through COVID-19, somehow, we came back to her life as a poet and author. Karim is a professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University (SFSU). She is also … Continue reading Interview With Author, Persis Karim

Adiele with VONA Students: Featured Image

Interview With Author, Faith Adiele

Artists as First Responders It’s 2020, a year I thought might bring clarity.April showers pour from clouds cast by COVID-19. It is wet outside but we’re inside per a warning from state officials to shelter-in-place. This unsettling phrase tries to side-step the word, home, just as there is nothing to curb the virus’ spread; no language to address people for whom there is no home; … Continue reading Interview With Author, Faith Adiele

Sticky post

DPWC

The Diasporic Peoples Writing Collective (DPWC) is a San Jose State University (SJSU) registered student organization (RSO) that fosters equity in the literary arts for students, alums, and academics who write to catalyze reparative action. We platform aspiring artists of color, nurture genre exploration, and work with eco-systems that support BIPOC literature. Writing can sometimes feel like a solitary endeavor, so we can best resist … Continue reading DPWC

Act

Vernon “Trey” Keeve III, PhD, author and educator, joins us for an online event via San Jose State University where he will read from his book, Southern Migrant Mixtape, and engage us in a discussion on the intersections of life, love, loss, grief, and literary expression. Find Keeve’s book at Black Lawrence Press. Sheila Smith McKoy, PhD, poet and historian, visits San Jose State University … Continue reading Act

Buy

Our collective is home to talented writers whose works are published and accessible with a click. We are home to editors, educators, archivists, and folks both in and adjacent to the literary world. Keenan Norris melds into this novel, memoir, cultural criticism, and literary biography to indelibly depict Chicago—from the Great Migration to the present day—as both a cradle of black intellect, art, and politics … Continue reading Buy

Schedule

‘Need an invite to join a Diasporic Peoples Writing Collective (DPWC) event? Contact us for info. and access. COVID-19 Update: DPWC’s monthly meet-ups are online until further notice. We once held our monthly meet-ups at SJSU in Washington Square Hall, room 218. However, COVID-19 pushed us online and now our meet-ups follow this format… We join-in on Zoom. You introduce yourself (e.g., I’m so-in-so. I’ve … Continue reading Schedule