Five Reasons Why I’m Launching a Writing Community for BIPOC Women Writers: Introducing the Sanctuary
Did you know that here at Reed, Write, & Create we are launching a private membership community for BIPOC women writers? The Sanctuary is a virtual, safe space for women looking for a writing community that is inspiring, supportive, nurturing, and centers the needs and experiences of BIPOC writers. Our goal is to help as many BIPOC women writers as possible, get their stories out of their heads and into the world.
But Lori, aren’t you busy enough? Why are you launching a private membership community for BIPOC women writers? Aren’t Black women and other women of color writers winning already? Do they really need a community to call their own? The answer is yes. Yes, actually with a capital, “Hell Yeah!” So, please allow me to explain what inspired me to launch The Sanctuary. I’ll break it down to five simple reasons.
If you’d rather listen to me explain why I launched The Sanctuary, feel free to check out episode #21 on the Read, Write, and Create podcast.
Why Now?
First and foremost, I have to be clear, launching The Sanctuary is the realization of a long held dream, and not a reaction to depressing publishing statistics and the current assault on BIPOC stories currently happening in the United States and all around the world. But those things did help me in my decision making process. But I’ll get to that later.
But the truth is, creating a community for BIPOC women writers has been a dream of mine since I was a baby writer back in the 1990s when I first started my career. I wanted to buy a brownstone in Brooklyn and outfit it with purple leather couches, armchairs covered in kente cloth, and man-sized exotic plants. Erykah Badu would be crooning in the background. Coffee and tea would always be at the ready and warm blueberry muffins would be in abundance. Writers would be scattered about the space, crafting their masterpieces in community, and in the evenings we’d turn down the lights and plug in the mic and have a literary salon befitting the Harlem renaissance.
A Dream Deferred, Now Realized
Reason #1 The most important reason why I am creating The Sanctuary is simply because I’ve been dreaming about creating a literary community for myself and my peers for decades. It’s a passion project and a labor of love. It’s the marriage of my love of all things literary and my skills and talents as a convener and community builder.
I created a wonderful writer’s group when I lived in Philadelphia, where we met in my living room, but now I’m ready for the brownstone version of my dream. Of course, The Sanctuary is a virtual community for BIPOC women writers, but I like to say we’re a virtual community with real life vibes.
Women Writers Work Better in Community
Reason #2 I created The Sanctuary because writing in community has actually been proven to be extremely beneficial for women writers. Research shows that women who sustained a writing practice in community:
1. Increased their productivity.
2. Improved the quality of their writing.
3. Experienced an increase in collaborations with other writers.
4. Increased their confidence and sense of competence with the written word.
After seeing those outcomes, I almost felt like it was my duty as a literary activist to create a community where BIPOC women could experience these benefits. Even if I was just holding the space for women to come together and write, I realized I could be the catalyst for positive change in the lives of many. So, I said, “Let’s Go,” to myself and to The Sanctuary.
The Publishing Industry isn’t Loyal to BIPOC Women
Reason #3 In 2020, The New York Times gathered a list of English-language fiction books published between 1950 and 2018. The titles they chose were books that were widely read and widely available and published by the major publishers, Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster, Harper Collins, etc. Turns out 95 percent were written by white people! By 2021, those numbers improved, but not by much. White people created 74.9 percent of popular titles. What’s more, BIPOC women are the least represented writers published by the mainstream publishing industry, and yet women are the largest reading demographic in the United States.
So, the way I see it, by creating a safe space where BIPOC women can get the support and resources they need to write more, write better, and with more confidence, I am doing my part to bridge the literary divide. You’re welcome.
Virginia Woolf Was Wrong
Reason #4 Virginia Woolf famously said that a woman needs a room of her own to write, and while I agree that having a room to myself makes it a lot easier to write and disappear into my stories, Woolf forgot to mention that women writers also need community to support them through the brutal game of writing for public consumption. Writers, we tend to be sensitive creatures, and there is a lot of waiting, rejection, and revision embedded in the writing game. Even the strongest, most confident writers need a team or a community of Sister Scribes for emotional support, not to mention for help with professional development and continuous improvements on their craft. The Sanctuary was created with those needs in mind, and promises to be a one-stop shop for writers looking for a nurturing community, education on craft and professional development, and curated opportunities to get paid and published. The best part is that all of the programming and offerings in The Sanctuary are created specifically for BIPOC women writers.
Our Stories are Under Siege
Reason #5 Even though above I stated that creating The Sanctuary has been a lifelong dream, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t motivated by the current assault on BIPOC stories by people who are afraid to allow the truth to breathe in the same air as the racist mythology our country has been built on. In the 2022/2023 academic year, book bans were up 33 percent in public schools in the United States. Books by BIPOC authors and women are particularly popular for those trying to bury true histories of our nation and the world at large. So, BIPOC women writers are particularly vulnerable at this time.
So, what can we do in the face of these attacks? I say, write more. Write in community. Collaborate. Use our collective power to create our own publishing houses, bookstores, and libraries even. Refuse to be silent. Refuse to stop creating beautiful books and stories that showcase the reality of the lived experiences of the melanin rich. That’s my plan at least. And I know that working as a community of bad-ass BIPOC writers, we will have more impact than going at it alone.
To be honest, I think of The Sanctuary as a movement, not just a Membership.
Do You Want to Join The Sanctuary?
If you want to know more about The Sanctuary, including how to join, please add your name to the Tell Me More email list. That way you’ll receive all the important updates about The Sanctuary. Come join the movement!