Words have the power to heal, connect, and express deeper questions and truths. The heights of the art form are captured in the poetry of interdisciplinary writer, theologian, and educator Ajanaé Dawkins, Urban Arts Space’s Spring 2024 Community Artist-in-Residence. The selection committee praised the poet’s breadth of experience in the literary arts as well as her commitment to community involvement and education.

Ajanaé Dawkins holds a bachelors in English from The University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MFA in poetry from Randolph College, and a Masters of Theology from Methodist Theological School in Ohio. She has performed at venues across the country, including opening for the United Nations Secretary of Sexual Violence in Conflict and Nikki Giovanni. She was the winner of the Tinderbox Poetry Journal’s Editors Prize, a finalist for the Cave Canem Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize, and a finalist for the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins poetry prize. In addition, she was the Taft Museum’s 2022 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence and is a fellow of Torch Literary, The Watering Hole, and Pink Door. She has work published or forthcoming in The Rumpus, Ploughshares, Indiana Review, Frontier Poetry, The Offing, and more. 

Currently, Ajanaé serves as a co-host of the VS Podcast with the Poetry Foundation and as the Theology Editor for the EcoTheo Review. She revels in finding new ways to create immersive experiences and teach theory and craft. Throughout her literary career, she has taught seventh-grade English Language Arts, secured grants to teach free workshops to BIPOC, and developed programming centering Black art. You can find her in the middle of the dance floor, at the skate rink, the local winery, library, karaoke night, or in her kitchen cooking something slow.

Ajanaé writes about the lived experiences of Black women to explore the politics of faith, grief, sisterhood, and sensuality. One of her current projects is a poetry chapbook that examines Black mother-daughter relationships in her maternal lineage and pop culture. She plans to develop the project into a one-woman show that highlights the issue of missing Black women through the disappearance and 31-year-old cold case of her great aunt. Ajanaé is also working on an essay series exploring the relationship between Black poetry and the Black Church through the evolution of her own faith and upbringing as a pastor’s daughter.

Dawkins shared, “This residency will allow me to focus on my current works in progress and support the development of community programs I have been dreaming of for Columbus but have not had the resources to execute.” Among the artist’s proposed programs include a “Docuart Workshop” exploring family history with local BIPOC artists, a multidisciplinary showcase on lineage, and an audiovisual anthology. Her culminating show at Urban Arts Space will merge photography, poetry, and a live performance excerpt of her one-woman show.

The program is generously funded by The Ohio State University’s Office of Academic Affairs through Lisa Florman, vice provost for the arts. The residency includes an artist stipend, with additional funding earmarked for community programming to support the artist’s facilitation of free local arts projects and activities that enable underserved Columbus communities to engage with the arts.

Keep an eye on the UAS events page for more details on Ajanaé’s residency launch party happening in early 2024. The Urban Arts Space team is excited to support Ajanaé as she brings these projects to life!