Writers Well Youth Fellowship

Founded by award-winning poet Crystal Tennille Irby, Writers Well Youth Fellowship is a series of workshops and retreats designed to nurture the imagination of Black girls/femmes, 12-19, interested in writing and performance.

Core Values and Mission

• Writers Well Youth Fellowship is a Blackcentric space where all Black lives are sacred. 

• We speak and act with intention, integrity and authenticity. 

• We believe in equity for all

• We offer care & compassion to ourselves, one another and our art. 

• We choose to show up and be present. 

We execute these values by providing Black girls/femmes/non-binary/gender expansive youth with the tools and skills to author their own stories allowing them to: 

• Bear witness

• Document their humanity

• Imagine a future 

When we bear witness, document our full humanity, not just our trauma and pain, we decenter white supremacy, center Blackness and move from what is and imagine what the promised land will be.  The line between what we imagine and reality begins to shrink because our belief in the possibility of a new world begins to thrive.    This is how we ensure we center Black girls and gender expansive youth experience and build a foundation for their leadership.

Writer's Well is fiscally sponsored by Speaking Down Barriers a registered 501(3) nonprofit. Your contributions are tax deductible.

ABOUT CRYSTAL

Instagram: @crystaltennilleirby instagram.com/crystaltennilleirby

Crystal Tennille Irby is a spoken word poetry grand slam champion, published writer, director and identifies as a #BlackMamaCreative, an artist creating work across multiple artistic disciplines centering Black mothering, absent of the white gaze.  She is a doula and the current co-host and executive producer of Dem Black Mamas Podcast, a podcast that delves into the unique experience of 3 Black Mama Creatives raising free children while catching their creative dreams.  Crystal is a TEDxGreenville presenter,  a Watering Hole Poetry Fellow and the founder and Director of Writers Well Youth Fellowship, a program for Black girls ages 14-19 focused on writing and performance. Her recent credits include, Untitled Reconstruction Project, which she directed and co-produced and Untamed Womb: Reclaiming Wonder Through Healing, Liberation & Creativity, a Project Row Houses installation which she co-curated.  She was also a contributing writer for For Harriet.  In addition to her creative endeavors, Crystal has presented at numerous conferences including Black Maternal Health Conference & Training Institute; Let’s Talk About Sex, & HIV Prevention & Education Summit.  Crystal has over 15 years of experience working to dismantle systemic and institutional racism.  She works as a community doula helping Black birth persons stay connected to their body and as a facilitator for Speaking Down Barriers pushing communities forward by helping Black people heal from race and gender trauma.  She also served on the board of Hub City Writers Project, a place based non-profit press committed to publishing southern writers. 

Crystal is the mother of 4 children and shares her life with an Omega man.