Anastacia-Reneé

Author, Educator, Interdisciplinary Artist

Readings &
Lecture Topics
  • Form As Resistance, Legacy and Code
  • Poetry Urgent Care Clinic
  • Far Out: The Poets Mixed Tape
  • Workshop: Affirmations From The Body
  • Sorry Not Sorry: Writing Through Anger to get To The Other Side
  • An Evening with Anastacia-Reneé

Biography

“Using multiple identities and voices, the social world of appearance, judgment, identity and relationship is superimposed against the demands of woman-ness—a critique, a disruption and a declaration of the self.  Renee’s interweaving is relentless, and the interwork of prose, poetry, footnotes, dialogic, and declarations, create a new symphonic awareness of how women’s lives are intrinsically bonded to the internal. Some meta-, some stream-of-consciousness, some lyric and narrative, the movements invade the senses and interrupt the intellectual to initiate an atomic space where the elements converge. Reneé words emanate at a high absorption rate that leaves the heart pounding as we release assumptions and give into the simultaneity of understanding and liberation.” —Elmaz Abinader

“Anastacia-Reneé broils the alphabet with accents of Zora and bobby pins and tangled braids; she is busy here melding a blackgirl womansong with a backbeat of black jesus and barbie heads; she is weaving a ghosted blues of cop cars and sparrow eyes; she is translating a language of pain to a semaphore of power. Open these pages… and witness a unique voice that has come into its own” —Tyehimba Jess

“The poems of Anastacia-Reneé synthesize voice and body; prayer and meditation; politics and play; love and sexuality. Even poetic form is synthesized with monologues, glossaries, prose, and fragments.” —Terrance Hayes

Anastacia-Reneé is a queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, speaker, and podcaster. She is the author of (v.) (Gramma/Black Ocean, 2017); Forget It (Black Radish, 2017); Sidenotes from the Archivist (HarperCollins/Amistad, 2023); and Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere (HarperCollins/Amistad, 2024).

Sidenotes from the Archivist is a rich and beautiful collection of verse and image, a multi-part retrospective that traverses time, space, and reality to illuminate the expansiveness of Black femme lives. About the book, Douglas Kearney says, “Casting a sharp side-eye at the past with urgent syntax that rockets a reader forward, Anastacia-Reneé’s newest collection is a trenchant critique of US American f#@ckeries. This is a communal book in which unruly voices account for the dead; there are far too many to remember and more coming soon. Side Notes From the Archivist moves the margins to the center, retroactively claiming space and meaning to hold it into whatever future there is.”

Her work has been anthologized in: The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics and Superhero Poetry, Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora (Playground),Home is Where You Queer Your Heart, Furious Flower Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature, Joy Has A Sound, Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World, Spirited Stone: Lessons from Kubota’s Garden, and Seismic: Seattle City of Literature.

Reneé has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Ragdale, Mineral School, and The New Orleans Writers Residency. Her work has appeared in, BOMB, Prairie Schooner, Hobart, Foglifter, Auburn Avenue, Catapult, Alta, Torch, Poetry Northwest, A-Line, Cascadia Magazine, Hennepin Review, Ms. Magazine and others. They were selected by NBC News as part of the list of “Queer Artist of Color Dominate 2021’s Must See LGBTQ Art Shows.” Anastacia-Reneé was former Seattle Civic Poet (2017-2019), Hugo House Poet-in-Residence (2015-2017), Arc Artist Fellow (2020), and Jack Straw Curator (2020).

She lives in New York City.

Short Bio

Anastacia-Reneé is an award-winning cross-genre queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, TEDX speaker and former Seattle Civic Poet. She is the author of Side Notes from the Archivist, (v.)and Forget It. Her mixed media art has been exhibited at the Fry Art Museum and her installation, “Don’t Be Absurd (Alice in Parts),” was chosen by NBC as one of the “Queer Artist of Color Must See LGBTQ Arts Shows.” She has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Ragdale, Mineral School and others. Reneé’s poetry, fiction and nonfiction has been anthologized and published widely. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Visit Author Website

Videos

Publications

Articles & Audio

Selected Writings

Download Assets

Let’s get started

If you’re interested in this speaker, complete this form to begin the conversation.