How We Make Fire, Issue 6 of the Awake Collection, answers the question:

“What survival skills are necessary to exist”?

9 Black writers and artists use poetry and flash fiction to explore and transcribe their complex relationship with the land, delving into how they survive, thrive, and navigate oppression and privilege in nature.

Their work reflects on the historical and cultural ties to the land, addressing themes of displacement, resilience, and reclamation while celebrating nature’s healing power as a source of strength and creativity.

Through their words, they challenge colonial narratives, highlight environmental justice issues, and offer new ways of understanding the connection between identity and the natural world.

Flames:

Dylan Connell

Ellen June Wright

Olatunde Osinaike

Kyle Williams 

Olivia Dorsey Peacock

psykhe rietveld

Jasmine Barnes

Jonathan Chibuike Ukah

Leslie McIntosh

“Let this collection mark a departure from stereotypes of Black Americans outside solely to work or be worked, and the convalescence of Black people’s relationship with wilderness. It is overdue for Black writers who are writing about their experiences engaging with nature and the environment to be acknowledged as Naturalists, Rusticists, Environmentalists, Eco-Poets, and Transcendentalists. These stories point at soil beneath nails, at hands that till, sow, and sweep leaves from the cave floor, at wanderers who kneel to pull from the stream, and explorers who set up camp, and make fire before nightfall.“

– Mel Sherrer, Guest Editor

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