Chapter 510

CHAPTER 510 AND FRIENDS - MAGICAL PROFESSORS 

Step into the offices of the department of Make Believe and come see a reading featuring the enchanted teachers and staff (past and present) of Chapter 510. This reading will feature poets and prose writers and promises to be a unique experience reflected by the amazing and various magical educators who have taught our youth. We will journey across the different departments at the organization. Everything from our department of far off ideas, to our offices of powerful beginnings all the way to the department of fantastic futures.

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Duane Horton is a black queer fantasy writer who is from the Midwest but resides in the Bay Area. He believes in writing his intersection of identity into his fantasy pieces, to widen the cannon of literature and so that folks who share his intersection of identity can see themselves represented on the page more. He graduated with his MFA in creative writing from Mills college in 2019 and since then, has been published in numerous literary magazines including Green Mountains Review, Sapphire Hues Press and more. He uses his background in feminist studies to create stories that offer possible blue prints for the future, as he believes this is one of the many uses of the fantasy genre. Duane is a current teaching artist with Chapter 510 and his fantasy writing workshop just produced an anthology named 'Empowered Origins'.

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Jahan Khalighi, a spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer, leads creative writing workshops for personal and collective transformation in a wide range of settings, from juvenile detention centers to classrooms, from community centers to boardrooms. He is currently Director of Programs at Chapter 510, a youth creative writing and publishing program in Oakland, CA. Jahan has performed widely, including at: TEDxSonoma, YBCA, Mission Cultural Center, Bioneers and Esalen; and some of his work has been published in Tarot In Pandemic & Revolution, Stay Amazed, and Whoa Nelly Press.

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Daniel B. Summerhill is a poet, essayist and scholar from Oakland, CA. His work has appeared in Columbia Journal, Obsidian, The Progressive, Academy of American Poets and elsewhere. he is the author of two collections of poems, Divine, Divine, Divine (Nomadic Press 2021) which was a semi-finalist for the Wheeler and Saturnalia Poetry Prizes respectively and Mausoleum of Flowers (Cavankerry Press 2022). Summerhill has earned fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts and The Watering Hole. He is Assistant Professor of Poetry at Santa Clara University and is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Monterey County.

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Tavia Stewart is a writer, mom, activist, teacher, and magical thinker living in Oakland. She has nearly 20 years of experience running literary and community nonprofits. Prior to joining Chapter 510 as a co-founder, she co-ran National Novel Writing Month where she spent nine years building the organization’s Young Writers Program. Previously Tavia interned; volunteered; and worked for 826 Valencia, McSweeney's Publishing, ZYZZYVA, and Watchword Press. She is a co-author of Ready, Set, Novel (Chronicle Books). She is a proud 2020 YBCA Fellow, and the lucky mom of one highly energetic (and dramatic) nine-year-old humanoid.

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Yodassa Williams is a Jamaican American author and performing storyteller who crafts from an Afro-Feminist Fantasy lense. Yodassa served as a mentor for Chapter 501's After Origins youth writing series in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. An alumna of the VONA/Voices Travel Writing program, and creator of the storytelling podcast ‘The Black Girl Magic Files', she has taught storytelling craft through Girls, Inc, and blogged for the 2020 Debutante Ball. Yodassa has performed her personal parables at events including: The Black Woman is God, The Moth (SF), StorySlam, the Berkeley Book Festival and The Monkey House. In October of 2019, Yodassa launched ‘Writers Emerging’ a four day wilderness writing retreat for women of color, held at Fly Ranch, NV. She is currently fundraising with aims to repeat the event and continue serving black femme creatives. Her debut novel, The Goddess Twins, was published by SparkPress in May 2020. This Young Adult fantasy details the adventure of seventeen year old Caribbean American twins discovering they are goddesses when their mother goes missing. It is the intended first book of a series.

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Leg: 2 (5:30 pm - 6:30 pm) Venue: Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe

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MISSION
Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing, bookmaking & publishing center. Our teaching artists and volunteers work side by side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community so Black, brown, and queer youth ages 8-19 can bravely write.

VISION
We want every young person in Oakland to write with confidence and joy.

WHAT WE STAND FOR
We believe that writing is an act of liberation. Young people transform themselves and their communities when they write and get published, succeeding in work, school, and life.

INSPIRED BY
Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe is and 826 National-inspired organization.

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