Creative Writing

Chiyuma Elliott is Associate Professor of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarly work and teaching focus on poetry and poetics and African American intellectual history from the 1920s to the present. Before joining the Berkeley faculty, Elliott was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, and Assistant Professor of English, Creative Writing, and African American Studies at the University of Mississippi. A Cave Canem Alumni Fellow, she has also received fellowships from the American Philosophical Society, the James Irvine Foundation,...

Nadia Elbgal is the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She is a Berkeley High graduate currently taking a few classes at Berkeley City College during her gap year. She is a Yemeni-American Muslim woman who advocates for and raises awareness on topics relating to the Middle Eastern and Muslim communities. Nadia has been a literacy mentor to Yemeni students in OUSD elementary schools as well as a teaching assistant in a mental health class at Hoover Elementary’s summer program. As an artist-activist, Nadia’s themes range from the Middle East to American cities: the perspectives,...

Dillon Chitto, (he/him) is an Indigenous playwright of Mississippi Choctaw, and Isleta and Laguna Pueblo descent. Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico he grew up learning the importance of art, culture, and traditions. In his playwriting, he explores these ideas through the lens of comedy. He is presently based in Chicago, Illinois and is a company member of BoHo Theatre where he serves as literary manager. His first play Bingo Hall, developed by Native Voices at The Autry and presented during their 2017 Festival of New Plays, was given a world premiere at Native Voices in...