About Jawanza

Jawanza Barial-Lumumba is a storyteller across a variety of mediums, with a love for playing with narrative form (in a post-modernist style) that often informs his work. Jawanza has been a writer well before he even knew how to write and continues to be a storyteller in a variety of spaces personally and professionally, throughout his many years on Earth.

Jawanza is also facilitator of creative writing workshop groups, both generative workshops and feedback-focused workshops. He also loves to participate in workshops and writing groups as well. The passion he brings to the characters, worlds, and stories that he crafts is informed by his career as a leader in variety of nonprofit roles--today, Jawanza organizes leadership development cohorts, workshops, trainings, immersive learnings, and even experiential conferences for nonprofit employees of all backgrounds.

When Jawanza isn’t lost in writing or working, he is likely at a café or a neighborhood bar or favorite bookstore reading, playing bingo, and conversing with close friends. You may also see him on the road for work, for friends, or for life, venturing to new cities, exploring bookstores, and indulging in local cuisine recommendations from community locals.

For the current novel-in-stories project that Jawanza is writing, he is reading other novels-in-stories, short story collections, and anthology. From his recent reading list, he has elevated learnings from these books:

Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So
Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
The Private Apartments by Idman Nur Omar
Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde
Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
There, There by Tommy Orange
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler
How Long ‘til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin