ROOTED & WRITTEN
2026 CONFERENCE on
Saturday, April 25- Sunday, May 3, 2026
SF Bay Area BIPOC Writers
Applications Now Closed
ROOTED & WRITTEN
2026 CONFERENCE on
Saturday, April 25- Sunday, May 3, 2026
SF Bay Area BIPOC Writers
Applications Now Closed
Rooted & Written is a unique space where BIPOC writers come together to grow, connect, and thrive. Founded as the first tuition-free program of its kind in the U.S., Rooted & Written offers emerging writers of color a place to develop their craft across genres—supported by mentorship, community, and access to professional resources. Whether you’re refining your voice, finishing a manuscript, or seeking a literary home, you’ll find guidance, collaboration, and inspiration here.
Our approach is holistic and professional, designed to empower BIPOC writers across multiple genres. We aim to foster connection, build community, and elevate diverse voices—ensuring that the literary landscape grows more inclusive, representative, and bold.
The 2026 Rooted & Written Conference is a hybrid gathering for writers of color, with both in-person and online programming. The conference includes generative workshops, a keynote conversation with moderators, a seminar on the business of writing, and professional training sessions.
Participants also have access to flash classes—available to all applicants, even those not selected as fellows—and the conference concludes with Words of Color, a public reading of work created during the conference.
R.O. Kwon is the author of the nationally bestselling novel Exhibit and a recipient of the Lambda Literary Duggins Prize. Kwon’s bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Prize. With Garth Greenwell, Kwon co-edited the bestselling anthology Kink. Kwon’s books have been translated into seven language and named a best book of the year by over forty publications. Kwon’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and elsewhere. She is a 2025-2026 Visiting Fellow at the American Library in Paris.
Purchase R. O. Kwon’s latest national bestseller, Exhibit, here.
Dominic Lim is the author of All the Right Notes, named a Best Book of 2023 by more than fifteen outlets including USA Today, Goodreads, Library Journal, and Entertainment Weekly. His second novel, Karaoke Queen, was an Amazon Editors’ Pick in 2024. He is a member of the Writers Grotto and co-hosts San Francisco’s long-running Babylon Salon reading series. Dominic holds a Master of Music from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, is an Oberlin College and Conservatory alum, and a proud Actors’ Equity Association member. He lives in Oakland with his husband, Peter, and their whiny cat, Phoebe.
Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. He is the author of “Someone’s Dead Already”, “Heaven Is All Goodbyes”, “Waiting Behind Tornados for Food”, and “Blood on the Fog”. In 2020, he co-founded Black Freighter Press to publish revolutionary works. He was San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate.
Preeti Vangani is a poet & writer from Bombay based in San Francisco. She is the author of the poetry collections, Mother Tongue Apologize (2019) and Fifty Mothers, (River River Books, 2026). Her work has appeared in AGNI, The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner among other places. Her debut short story won the 2021 Pen/Dau Emerging Writers Prize.Vangani has been a resident at UCross, Djerassi and Ragdale. She has received artist grants from San Francisco Arts Commission, YBCA, and The Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She holds an MFA in Writing from University of San Francisco and teaches in the program.
Danny Theimann has served as a staff attorney for the Programa para Campesinos at the Oregon Law Center and as a senior attorney in Earthjustice´s international program. He has taught fiction at the Writer´s Grotto Rooted and Written conference. His fiction has won, among other honors, the Nelligan Prize from Colorado Review, the Tobia
Danny Theimann has served as a staff attorney for the Programa para Campesinos at the Oregon Law Center and as a senior attorney in Earthjustice´s international program. He has taught fiction at the Writer´s Grotto Rooted and Written conference. His fiction has won, among other honors, the Nelligan Prize from Colorado Review, the Tobias Wolff Award from Bellingham Review, the Table4 Foundation New Writer Award, and has been a finalist for the Madalyn Lamont Award from the American University in Cairo, the Kurt Vonnegut Prize for Speculative Fiction from the North American Review, the Bridport International Story Competition in London, and he has been published by AGNI as part of it´s To Never Have Risked Our Lives 2024 portfolio on Central America Diaspora writing, the Idaho Review, and the New Delta Review
Devi S. Laskar is an award-winning writer, poet and artist. Her third novel, Midnight, at the War, is out now from Mariner Books. She holds degrees from Columbia University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and UNC-Chapel Hill. She now lives in SF/Bay Area with her family.
Grace Loh Prasad’s debut memoir The Translator’s Daughter—finalist for the Northern California Book Award and Feminist Press Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, and one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of 2024—was published by Mad Creek Books/The Ohio State University Press. Grace writes frequently about belonging and diaspora
Grace Loh Prasad’s debut memoir The Translator’s Daughter—finalist for the Northern California Book Award and Feminist Press Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, and one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of 2024—was published by Mad Creek Books/The Ohio State University Press. Grace writes frequently about belonging and diaspora for publications including The New York Times, Literary Hub, Longreads, Guernica, Brevity, The Offing, Oldster Magazine, and KHÔRA. Her writing has received support from Hedgebrook, Ragdale and Writing Between the Vines, and she has taught memoir and essay writing for Tin House, Rooted & Written and The Writers Grotto.
(Image by JD Beltran)
Tara Dorabji is the award winning author of the novel, Call Her Freedom, Simon and Schuster’s Books Like Us Grand Prize Winner. An adept public speaker and facilitator, Tara presents regionally and globally on topics including culture change, radical resource redistribution & the power of storytelling. A creative entrepreneur and executiv
Tara Dorabji is the award winning author of the novel, Call Her Freedom, Simon and Schuster’s Books Like Us Grand Prize Winner. An adept public speaker and facilitator, Tara presents regionally and globally on topics including culture change, radical resource redistribution & the power of storytelling. A creative entrepreneur and executive coach, she supports creative in building sustainable platforms to align with their visions. Her documentary film series on human rights defenders in Kashmir won awards at over a dozen film festivals throughout Asia and the USA. Her publications include Al Jazeera, The Chicago Quarterly, Huizache, and acclaimed anthologies: Good Girls Marry Doctors & All the Women in My Family Sing. The daughter of Parsi-Indian and German-Italian migrants, she lives in Northern California with her rabbit.
Xandra Maria Castleton is a bicultural screenwriter, script editor and producer whose films have premiered at the Tribeca, Sundance and AFI film festivals. She won an Emmy Award for her profile of John Waters in a series on indie film she produced for public television, then co-wrote and produced the Sundance Channel Audience Award winner
Xandra Maria Castleton is a bicultural screenwriter, script editor and producer whose films have premiered at the Tribeca, Sundance and AFI film festivals. She won an Emmy Award for her profile of John Waters in a series on indie film she produced for public television, then co-wrote and produced the Sundance Channel Audience Award winner, Full Grown Men, with Judah Friedlander, Alan Cumming, Amy Sedaris and Debbie Harry. Xandra co-created and wrote Stand Up Planet with Hasan Minhaj, Nate Bargatze, Michele Buteau, Norman Lear and Carl Reiner. She teaches in the film department at the California College of the Arts.
Jesus Sierra is an award-winning Cuban writer, Jesus Francisco Sierra grew up in San Francisco’s Mission District. His work has appeared in Zyzzyva, LA Review of Books ant The Common among others. His unpublished short story collection "At Times of Loss and Other Cuban Stories" was runner up in the 2023 Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Priz
Jesus Sierra is an award-winning Cuban writer, Jesus Francisco Sierra grew up in San Francisco’s Mission District. His work has appeared in Zyzzyva, LA Review of Books ant The Common among others. His unpublished short story collection "At Times of Loss and Other Cuban Stories" was runner up in the 2023 Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize and a finalist for the 2025 EastOver Press Debut Collection. He was recently awarded the 2025 Fiction prize from the San Francisco Literary Foundation. His essay “A Brief Spanish History of San Francisco” was awarded first prize for commentary in 2025 by the San Francisco Press Club.
LisaMarie Rollins is a feminist playwright, director & theater maker. She has been a writing fellow with Hedgebrook, Djerassi, CALLALOO London, VONA and more. She was a Wallace Gerbode Playwright Fellow awardee and is a 24-25 Core Writer in the Susan Fairbrook Playwright Group at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. She has been a Resident Artis
LisaMarie Rollins is a feminist playwright, director & theater maker. She has been a writing fellow with Hedgebrook, Djerassi, CALLALOO London, VONA and more. She was a Wallace Gerbode Playwright Fellow awardee and is a 24-25 Core Writer in the Susan Fairbrook Playwright Group at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. She has been a Resident Artist with Brava Theater and Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco. She is a Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) and Dramatist Guild. She leads The Iris Lab, a residency, research space & new work incubator for global majority theater makers located at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Rowena Leong Singer is a writer and editor whose work appears in The New York Times, North American Review, Black Warrior Review, Narrative, KQED’s Perspectives, and elsewhere. She is the grand prize winner in literary fiction for the Book Pipeline Unpublished Contest and a semifinalist for the Books Like Us First Novel Contest by Simon &
Rowena Leong Singer is a writer and editor whose work appears in The New York Times, North American Review, Black Warrior Review, Narrative, KQED’s Perspectives, and elsewhere. She is the grand prize winner in literary fiction for the Book Pipeline Unpublished Contest and a semifinalist for the Books Like Us First Novel Contest by Simon & Schuster and the James Jones First Novel Fellowship Contest. She is an associate editor at CRAFT Literary, where she has read thousands of manuscripts for publication. She received her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars, where she was awarded the Barry Hannah Merit Scholarship in Fiction.
Audrey T. Williams, MFA, is a Southern Black poet and writer with Indo-Burmese heritage. She is the founder of Ancestral Futures: Liberation Literary Arts. Audrey serves as Co-Chair of the 2026 World Fantasy Convention to be held in Oakland (wfc2026.org). Her writing has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative
Audrey T. Williams, MFA, is a Southern Black poet and writer with Indo-Burmese heritage. She is the founder of Ancestral Futures: Liberation Literary Arts. Audrey serves as Co-Chair of the 2026 World Fantasy Convention to be held in Oakland (wfc2026.org). Her writing has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Space & Time Magazine, and beyond. In autumn 2026, she will begin her PhD in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Audrey uses poetry for expressive healing arts work and her forthcoming book, “Attending Sorrow: Poems and Writing Prompts for Living with Grief,” will be available in Spring 2026.
Roberto Lovato is the award-winning author of Unforgetting (Harper Collins), a “groundbreaking” memoir the New York Times picked as an “Editor’s Choice.” Newsweek listed Lovato’s memoir as a “must read” book and the Los Angeles Times listed it as one of its 20 Best Books. Lovato is also an Assistant Professor of English at the University
Roberto Lovato is the award-winning author of Unforgetting (Harper Collins), a “groundbreaking” memoir the New York Times picked as an “Editor’s Choice.” Newsweek listed Lovato’s memoir as a “must read” book and the Los Angeles Times listed it as one of its 20 Best Books. Lovato is also an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition to receiving a reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center, journalist Lovato has reported on numerous issues—racism, criminal justice, psychedelics and health, violence, terrorism, the drug war and the immigration and refugee crisis—from across the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and France, among other countries.He is also the founder of Rooted and Written.
Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a writer, poet, and educator whose work explores inheritance, displacement, care, and the pressure points between silence and voice. She is a longtime teacher with The Writers Grotto, Litquake’s Elder Project, and San Diego Writers Ink. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies including SWWIM, Non-W
Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a writer, poet, and educator whose work explores inheritance, displacement, care, and the pressure points between silence and voice. She is a longtime teacher with The Writers Grotto, Litquake’s Elder Project, and San Diego Writers Ink. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies including SWWIM, Non-White, Women, Taboos and Transgressions, Essential Truths, Rising Phoenix, and Faithfully Feminist. Her work has received support from literary organizations and fellowships, and she has been recognized for both her writing and her leadership in literary arts education. She is currently working on What My Mouth Inherited, a poetry collection, as well as a short story collection and a novel, The Poppy Flower. She lives in Northern California with her husband and children in a coastal town that continues to shape her work.
Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a writer, poet, and educator whose work explores inheritance, displacement, care, and the pressure points between silence and voice. She is a longtime teacher with The Writers Grotto, Litquake’s Elder Project, and San Diego Writers Ink. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies including SWWIM, Non-W
Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a writer, poet, and educator whose work explores inheritance, displacement, care, and the pressure points between silence and voice. She is a longtime teacher with The Writers Grotto, Litquake’s Elder Project, and San Diego Writers Ink. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies including SWWIM, Non-White, Women, Taboos and Transgressions, Essential Truths, Rising Phoenix, and Faithfully Feminist. Her work has received support from literary organizations and fellowships, and she has been recognized for both her writing and her leadership in literary arts education. She is currently working on What My Mouth Inherited, a poetry collection, as well as a short story collection and a novel, The Poppy Flower. She lives in Northern California with her husband and children in a coastal town that continues to shape her work.
Rowena Leong Singer is a writer and editor whose work appears in The New York Times, North American Review, Black Warrior Review, Narrative, KQED’s Perspectives, and elsewhere. She is the grand prize winner in literary fiction for the Book Pipeline Unpublished Contest and a semifinalist for the Books Like Us First Novel Contest by Simon &
Rowena Leong Singer is a writer and editor whose work appears in The New York Times, North American Review, Black Warrior Review, Narrative, KQED’s Perspectives, and elsewhere. She is the grand prize winner in literary fiction for the Book Pipeline Unpublished Contest and a semifinalist for the Books Like Us First Novel Contest by Simon & Schuster and the James Jones First Novel Fellowship Contest. She is an associate editor at CRAFT Literary, where she has read thousands of manuscripts for publication. She received her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars, where she was awarded the Barry Hannah Merit Scholarship in Fiction.
MK Chavez is a writer and educator whose body of work explores mixed-race identity,
social justice, ecological resilience, and horror cinema. At Ouroboros Writing Lab, Chavez cultivates literary experimentation as a radical act of liberation and supports the creative growth of QTBIPOC writers and allies committed to igniting meaningful cha
MK Chavez is a writer and educator whose body of work explores mixed-race identity,
social justice, ecological resilience, and horror cinema. At Ouroboros Writing Lab, Chavez cultivates literary experimentation as a radical act of liberation and supports the creative growth of QTBIPOC writers and allies committed to igniting meaningful change. They are co-director of Berkeley Poetry Festival, host of Bay Area Book Festival Mixed-Race Affinity Group, and poetry editor at The Fabulist.
Chavez has received the Pen Josephine Miles Award, San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award, among others. Their published works include Dear Animal, Mothermorphosis, A Brief History of the Selfie, and other chapbooks.
Swetha Amit is an MFA graduate from the University of San Francisco. The author of a memoir and three chapbooks, she has had her work appear in Had, Bending Genres, Ghost Parachute, Gone Lawn, McNeese, Boudin, Monkey Bicycle, and elsewhere. A member of the Writers Grotto and a Rooted and Written fellow, she has had her stories nominated
Swetha Amit is an MFA graduate from the University of San Francisco. The author of a memoir and three chapbooks, she has had her work appear in Had, Bending Genres, Ghost Parachute, Gone Lawn, McNeese, Boudin, Monkey Bicycle, and elsewhere. A member of the Writers Grotto and a Rooted and Written fellow, she has had her stories nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Small Fiction, and Best Microfiction. Her writing has been supported by Tin House, the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, the Community of Writers, Vona Voices, and the Writers Grotto. She is currently working on two novels—one a sports drama and the other a story tracing the journey of an Indian woman immigrant who is battling a defective birth chart, trying to break free from traditional norms and superstitions, and finding an identity and a sense of belonging. She can be found on @swethaamit on Instagram and @whirlwindtots on Twitter.
Roberto Lovato is the award-winning author of Unforgetting (Harper Collins), a “groundbreaking” memoir the New York Times picked as an “Editor’s Choice.” Newsweek listed Lovato’s memoir as a “must read” book and the Los Angeles Times listed it as one of its 20 Best Books. Lovato is also an Assistant Professor of English at the University
Roberto Lovato is the award-winning author of Unforgetting (Harper Collins), a “groundbreaking” memoir the New York Times picked as an “Editor’s Choice.” Newsweek listed Lovato’s memoir as a “must read” book and the Los Angeles Times listed it as one of its 20 Best Books. Lovato is also an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition to receiving a reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center, journalist Lovato has reported on numerous issues—racism, criminal justice, psychedelics and health, violence, terrorism, the drug war and the immigration and refugee crisis—from across the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and France, among other countries.He is also the founder of Rooted and Written.
Susan Ito began reading at the age of three, and writing stories at the age six. She is the author of award-winning memoir, I Would Meet You Anywhere. She co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption. Her work has appeared in The Writer, Growing Up Asian American, Choice, Hip Mama, Literary Mama, C
Susan Ito began reading at the age of three, and writing stories at the age six. She is the author of award-winning memoir, I Would Meet You Anywhere. She co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption. Her work has appeared in The Writer, Growing Up Asian American, Choice, Hip Mama, Literary Mama, Catapult, Hyphen, The Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere. She is a MacDowell colony Fellow, and has also been awarded residencies at The Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook and the Blue Mountain Center. She has performed her solo show, The Ice Cream Gene, around the US. Her theatrical adaption of Untold, stories of reproductive stigma, was produced at Brava Theater She is a member of the Writers’ Grotto, and teaches at Mills College/Northeastern University and Bay Path University. She was one of the co-organizers of Rooted and Written, a no-fee writing workshop for writers of color. She lives in Northern California.
Eirinie Carson is a Black British Londoner and writer living in California. She is a mother of two children, Luka and Selah. A member of the Writers Grotto in San Francisco, Eirinie is a frequent contributor to Mother magazine, and her work has also appeared in Mother Muse and You Might Need To Hear This, with an upcoming piece in The Son
Eirinie Carson is a Black British Londoner and writer living in California. She is a mother of two children, Luka and Selah. A member of the Writers Grotto in San Francisco, Eirinie is a frequent contributor to Mother magazine, and her work has also appeared in Mother Muse and You Might Need To Hear This, with an upcoming piece in The Sonora Review’s Fall edition. Eirinie contributes to her local paper, The Argus Courier, via a column, Eirinie Asks. She mostly writes about motherhood, grief and relationships and the release of her first book, The Dead Are Gods (from on Melville House, 2023) was a critically acclaimed Spring release, with Oprah Daily, Shondaland, People Magazine and the Washington Post sharing rave reviews on their platforms. Most recently, Eirinie was asked to be a featured author at 2023 Texas Book Festival, and is also the Program Coordinator for the Mesa Refuge, a writers residency out of Point Reyes Station, California.
Jesus Sierra is an award-winning Cuban writer, Jesus Francisco Sierra grew up in San Francisco’s Mission District. His work has appeared in Zyzzyva, LA Review of Books ant The Common among others. His unpublished short story collection "At Times of Loss and Other Cuban Stories" was runner up in the 2023 Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Priz
Jesus Sierra is an award-winning Cuban writer, Jesus Francisco Sierra grew up in San Francisco’s Mission District. His work has appeared in Zyzzyva, LA Review of Books ant The Common among others. His unpublished short story collection "At Times of Loss and Other Cuban Stories" was runner up in the 2023 Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize and a finalist for the 2025 EastOver Press Debut Collection. He was recently awarded the 2025 Fiction prize from the San Francisco Literary Foundation. His essay “A Brief Spanish History of San Francisco” was awarded first prize for commentary in 2025 by the San Francisco Press Club.
