‘Ain’t Is A Real Word’: The Rise Of The MelaNated Writers Collective [Culturelicious]

The MelaNated Writers Collective, an alliance of writers of color, was founded by jewel bush in 2010. After attending workshops for writers of color in other places, she was determined to recreate that sense of community, year-round, at home in New Orleans. We are all grateful for that decision of hers to follow her intuition. We are made up of native New Orleanians and transplants from other cities and, while primarily African-American in our membership, we also have members with roots in India, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Belonging to MelaNated not only fosters growth through critique, but frankly, is the only way I’ve stayed sane as a writer through the barrage of voices that is an MFA program in Creative Writing. I write about issues of race and identity and have often found that very premise challenged by my peers in academia. MelaNated workshops have been a place where I did not have to defend the validity of my content, just its presentation. MelaNated workshops are a place where everyone knows “ain’t” is a real word.

This summer the members of MelaNated will put on a summer reading series in New Orleans. Over three dates, members of the collective will read original work to the public. The first event will be held on June 1 at the New Orleans Museum Of Art and hosted by Kalamu ya Salaam. A living literary legend, Salaam, along with fellow writer Tom Dent, founded BLKARTSOUTH, the southern wing of the Black Arts Movement, followed by the Congo Square Writers Union in the late 1970s, which counted James Baldwin and Ishmael Reed as visitors.

MelaNated hopes to continue in these collective’s tradition of supporting and sustaining a writing community for people of color in New Orleans. MelaNated, with our monthly meetings and upcoming reading series, is working diligently to create a space, a space that encourages me and others not to back away or back down from our voices. Stories by people of color are being told everyday, whether we write them or not.

The writers of MelaNated are determined to contribute our perspectives and truths to the pot, and we are helping to dispel this notion that the world does not need nor yearn for a counter-narrative. There are the Greek myths of course, but we have our own heroes and goddesses. There are hidden stories to be told, new temples to be built.

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