Meet Our Grantee-Partner: Torch Literary Arts
Mission: To promote the work of Black women by publishing contemporary creative writing by emerging and experienced writers alike, to archive contributors' literary work for posterity and educational purposes, and to provide resources and opportunities for the advancement of Black women through literary arts.
As a Black woman poet who became the first to serve as the Texas Poet Laureate, Amanda Johnston was familiar with the joys and challenges of building a literary career. She envisioned a community where emerging and experienced Black women writers from across the diaspora could receive creative and professional support and have their literary contributions valued and celebrated. In 2006, she founded Torch Literary Arts in Austin, Texas, to provide intentional, essential services and love for Black women writers.
Poetry has been a means of artistic expression, truth-telling, and community-building for Black women throughout the United States' history. From Phillis Wheatley Peters in the 18th century to the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and today, Black women have used poetry to share their stories, history, and dreams for the future. Black women’s poetry speaks in rooms they still cannot enter and nurtures their community through language.
Despite their contributions, Black women have been underrepresented across the literary landscape historically and make up less than 5% of published work today. Torch Literary Arts aims to bridge these gaps through its programs and publications, which are offered online and in-person at no or low cost for Black women writers at all levels. Its writing workshops are led by experienced writers—previous facilitators include Remica L. Bingham-Risher, Ariana Brown, and Faylita Hicks.
Torch also collaborates with community partners to present special events and curate the Wildfire Reading Series featuring local and national authors. Additionally, Torch publishes Torch Magazine, an award-winning monthly digital publication celebrating creative writing by Black women.
2023 Torch Retreat fellows with Torch Literary Arts staff. Photo courtesy of Torch Literary Arts.
In 2023, Torch started offering a week-long writing retreat in Austin, Texas. Every July, eight Black women writers who have works in progress in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction (personal memoirs or lyric essays), and script (plays or screenplays) are selected to attend the Torch Retreat. Over the week, fellows are given ample time to write, attend group check-ins, and share their progress in a nurturing environment. Not only is the retreat free to fellows, but they receive a $1,000 stipend to cover travel, supplies, childcare, and other costs to help them attend regardless of financial ability.
“The Torch Retreat is easily the best experience I have ever had in the literary world. It was the single most affirming experience for me as an artist. This retreat gave me something that I have never had before—time to think only about creating my work. It was such a safe space to be in, surrounded only by Black women, and I am so grateful for that fact.” –2023 Torch Retreat fellow
To date, Torch Literary Arts has nurtured more than 300 Black women writers. As a growing global resource and destination, Torch has published emerging and experienced poets from across the United States and beyond to Canada, Germany, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Torch Literary Arts received an Equity in Verse grant from the Poetry Foundation in 2023. The funds helped with the following:
- Hiring full- and part-time staff
- Growing the board of directors
- Developing Torch’s first strategic plan
- Launching the inaugural Torch Retreat for Black women writers with works-in-progress
- Paying a professional rate for features published in Torch Magazine
- Delivering more than 40 events, including:
- The signature Wildfire Reading Series featuring Houston Poet Laureate, Deborah Mouton
- Special events with the Texas Book Festival featuring Anastacia-Renee, Vievee Francis, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Cynthia Manick, Airea D. Matthews, and Safiya Sinclair