Abolitionist Fiction Writer, Teaching Artist
Abolitionist Fiction Writer, Teaching Artist
A Black transwoman with disabilities, Taiwana Shambley is an abolitionist fiction writer & teaching artist from St. Paul’s North End neighborhood and based in Minneapolis. Using black radical tradition and anger as a guide, she writes, teaches, and performs fiction to move us closer to a world where young people, especially BIPOC and queer & trans youth, are free. A Sunspot Literary Journal semi-finalist, her fiction has been recognized with grants from the Loft Literary Center, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and her work as an educator was honored with the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Teaching Fellowship. Author of the zine One Good Argument for Youth Prison Abolition, she is published by the Minnesota Women’s Press, Belt Publishing, and the Academy of American Poets. She is currently at work on her debut novel, the first of a YA series, that explores the story of an angry and disabled girl who attempts to build an autonomous neighborhood and overthrow her mother, the first Black and first woman governor of Minnesota. Become a patron of her work, book her for community-based performances and classes or subscribe to updates on her first novel below.
Currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction, Taiwana is a 2021 graduate of Augsburg University in English and African American Studies, where as part of a coalition of students, faculty, and staff she co-led the creation of the school’s first ethnic studies department. She’s held positions with Nexus Community Partners and the Legal Rights Center—the former as the Program Associate for the Open Road Fund, a $50 million community resource for Black wealth building, and the latter as the 2021-22 Lead Organizer and Creator of End Youth Prisons MN, an abolitionist campaign that uses storytelling to shift local discourse and policy—as well as with the Headwaters Foundation and Haymarket Books. She’s performed with TruArtSpeaks and MoreThanASingleStory (both are very close to her heart), the Guthrie, the Walker Art Center, Open Book, Steppingstone Theater, and the University of California, Los Angeles. She’s previously taught with PiM Arts High School, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, Minnesota State Colleges & Universities, Breakthrough Twin Cities, Volunteers of America High School, Maxfield Elementary School, and Murray Middle School.