Minnie has been a member of AAWA since 2009!
"A journey of joy fills my twelve years as a member of the African American Writers’ Alliance (AAWA)." says Minnie when asked what AAWA membership means to her.
"This alliance kindles kinship, opportunities for group and individual growth, as well as quadrifocal views mixed with candid critiques without condemnations."
We asked Minnie what sparked her interest in writing.
"The beginnings of my journey were nurtured in my segregated library’s Summer Reading Contest to win a free book of choice. Here, reading African American poets, prose, autobiography, and historical research filled my journals."
Her reading and writing process involves highlighting new words, listing ideas, practicing various sentence patterns, and rewriting many times.
"I love words and diverse information. Foremost in my journals are experiences in segregated Virginia towns and living with my grandmother. Journals, my private spaces, are narrative storehouses, now enhanced with technology.
Eventually, Minnie migrated to Seattle where, as she puts it "Nature spring from land to sky" Her reflections and writings on her relationship to nature can be read in her 2020 published work in Avocet, A Journal of Nature and Crosscurrents (WASCC Humanities Association).
But that's not the only place to find her writing. Minnie's has published two solo books and her work has appeared in over 12 journals. In 2019, she wrote poems for Commemorative bronze plaques for Seattle’s Historical Liberty Bank Building Apartments, and Southeast Seattle Emerald. In 2020 her poem 'Spellbinders' was featured on the Ethnic Cultural Heritage Organization's website. (www.echox.org)
And through it all, her involvement with AAWA was key. "We mapped out strategies for creative productions, partnerships, and capital. Always seeking and engaging intergenerational Pan African writers."
As part of her individual and collaborative journey with AAWA, she has read at the Seattle Public Library’s monthly Writer’s Read, It’s About Time, Onyx Fine Arts, King Street Station, Town Hall, colleges, bookstores, museums and city celebrations. Minnie's books are available at the independent bookstore Third Place Books and through the Seattle Public Library.
She also shared that over the years she has evolved from being a print poet to presenting her poetry virtually, from being a solo performer to participating in events that are interdisciplinary and intergenerational, exploring the intersections of literary, dance, musical and other elements in her art.
Read Minnie's Poem Spellbinder at the link below
One of what she calls her "most provocative" writing experience for Minnie was the debut of her first play “Troubled Waters” in June 2020. Of the experience writing her first play, Minnie shared "I am grateful to Directors/Producers Merri Ann Osborne (The Mahogany Project at www.mahoganyproject.org) and Michael B. Maine, Producer of the We Out Here Festival (www.michalbmaine.com)
View Minnie's Play Troubled Waters below
"I was a student: listening to producers, directors, performers, and willing to rewrite the script. Their lens of perceptions opened deeper sensory experiences for audiences."
Minnie may have felt like a student when it came to play writing, but her knowledge and expertise as a teacher and mentor was also evident at the We Out Here festival. "Intimate Intergenerational Conversation with Minnie A. Collins and Nina Yarbrough" featured Minnie and a young writer Nina Yarbrough as they shared their writing experiences and stories. A comment written from someone watching the event called it a " a great master class".
Please check out Intimate Intergenerational Conversation below.
2021 has already been quite busy for Minnie. In January, Minnie participated in a Q13 Fox interview with Dan Reyes to respond to National Youth Poet Amanda Gowan’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb". And from February through April, Minnie's Poem inspired by the Sankofa bird titled "Speaking for Ourselves: Sankofa Legacy" is included in the AAWA project "Black Lives Have Always Mattered: The Wisdom of African Proverbs” as part of the Black Lives Matter exhibit sponsored by the Highline Heritage Museum. (see the article above)
She thanks Noni Ervin (Black 4 Enterprises, LLC) and Merri Ann Osborne for helping to put together the exhibit and adds, "Now, I am waiting for my book order for Amanda Gorman’s books. There’s Joy in this Journey!"
Thank you Minnie for taking the time to talk with us.
Looking forward to hearing you read your work this month at Elliott Bay Books, NAACP Poetry Night and as part of the Black Lives Have Always Mattered: The Wisdom of African Proverbs
