(Re)Introducing Wintergreen
To our dear community,
We welcome you to the inaugural newsletter of the Wintergreen Women Writers Collective. For the last 36 years, Wintergreen has nourished and fostered the work of a broad and influential community of Black women writers and poets. Through the Collective, we have workshopped and critiqued writing that later appeared in print; seeded ideas that resulted in programs, conferences, and organizations; and given each other guidance on educational pedagogy as well as publishing, promoting, and naming books.
The heart of the Wintergreen mission is to sustain a literary sisterhood that supports the idea of sacred work (that which is created and shared in a safe and welcoming intergenerational space) that may not get done in academic spaces. It is a place where the women go to heal, transform, and renew themselves.
This year, we embarked on a new initiative: following the recent establishment of Wintergreen as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, we have begun work with JMU Libraries and The Educopia Institute on an initiative to ensure Wintergreen’s continued independence, sustainability, and public legacy. This work is supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation. Our new website and this newsletter are early elements of the project. We invite you to subscribe, learn, explore, and hopefully find inspiration for your own work and community-building.
Our board
The Wintergreen board members shared rich insights on how they see Wintergreen’s purpose and legacy, and what gifts they bring to the Collective. Each future newsletter will feature insights from a group of Wintergreen members. Today, we introduce the full board.
Joanne Gabbin
“I am well aware that everyone wants to be seen in a way that is deep and genuine. I have tried to make that a part of the Wintergreen spirit. We do sacred work because we treasure each other and the space we create.”
Nikki Giovanni
“Our sisterhood has built a castle of creativity and comfort. We come together in safety to refresh our hearts. How lucky we are to find and keep each other.”
Maryemma Graham
“I care about legacy and tradition, passing on knowledge so that we build stronger institutions — organizations whose leadership is based on preserving and sharing knowledge that we acquire.”
Daryl Dance
“I hope our newsletter will reach writers, especially young ones and underprivileged ones — even perhaps those incarcerated.”
Trudier Harris
“I hope that aspiring young African American scholars and writers will not only be inspired to read about us and our history, but they might be inspired to form similar groups that could sustain them for more than three decades.”
Tyecia Thompson
“I am thinking of ways to get beyond a room of one's own to a community of their own. I would like to grab the attention of women writers who are looking for the courage to write, care, create, and give in a collective.”
Sandy Govan
“The Wintergreen spirit as I see it is tri-fold. First and foremost, it is the calming and restorative spirit of the mountain—of the journey up the mountain—complete with the caring, sharing, teasing, encouraging nurture of a supportive and collaborative spirit.”
Opal Moore
“The continuation of the WWWC was a realization that Black women needed to create our own shaping environments that are fluid and responsive to our diverse pursuits —that intellectual work is not separate from creative writing.”
Alysia Dempsey
“Wintergreen has cultivated an enduring model of a loving community where writers and creatives, both new and seasoned, come together to encourage each other to discover their unique voice to write and create stories that remind us of our history and help guide us toward the future.”
Upcoming events
Furious Flower 2024:
The Furious Flower Poetry Conference, initially convened by Dr. Joanne Gabbin in September 1994 to celebrate eminent poet Gwendolyn Brooks, will hold its fourth iteration from September 18-21, 2024. Mark your calendars now — we look forward to another groundbreaking conference that brings together Black poets, as well as scholars and lovers of Black poetry.
What we’re publishing and producing
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project:
In October the BFI London Film Festival presented two screenings of Going to Mars, the Sundance award winning documentary about legendary Black poet and activist — and Wintergreen board member— Nikki Giovanni. Directors-screenwriters Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster have great hopes for its international acclaim.
Leah Glenn Dance Theater presents Nine—a tribute to the Little Rock Nine:
Last month choreographer Leah Glenn presented a multimedia dance work celebrating the nine African American students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957, to glowing reviews. Follow lgdtdance.com for information on upcoming programs.
African American Women's Writing and the Wintergreen Women Writers Collective:
This semester, Dr. Mollie Godfrey (English) and Prof. Caitlin Birch (Libraries) of JMU are leading students in studying the individual artists of the Wintergreen Women Writers Collective, learning about the criticality of archives and archival collection practices to the preservation of Black literary history, and conducting original research in support of future Wintergreen Women Writers Collective-related archival collections at JMU. More information at the African, African American, and Diaspora Studies program website.
Caption: Students with course instructors Prof. Caitlin Birch and Dr. Mollie Godfrey, and guest speaker Dr. N'Kosi Oates, during a class trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
