Writing, Disabled & Furiously Alive

I’m very excited that the remote body will be hosting Denise Shanté Brown’s workshop series Writing, Disabled & Furiously Alive.

On a highlighter yellow-green background black text surrounds a collage made from photos of different textures, including brick, floral fabrics and painted leaves, in an arrangement of curved and angular shapes. The text reads: ‘Writing, Disabled & Furiously Alive. write experimental narratives that mimic your bodymind and affirm how your spirit and flesh are furiously alive with Denise Shanté Brown. 8 weeks, online, Tuesdays, August 4 - September 22, 2026, 7-8:30PM UK and 2-3:30PM EST, 15 spaces available’

“The next time my neck seizes and my muscles contract with a shocking violence, I allow it. For once, I can see the beauty in having flesh that is as loud as my spirit. It insists on care, it is just as stubborn as I am, just as brilliant, and I forgive it for being like this, disabled and furiously alive.” — Akwaeke Emezi, My Spirit Burns Through This Body

So often as bodyminds and storytellers, we’re expected to leave our chronic pains off the page. What if we write from our flares, from our loud and furious flesh, and in the rhythm of our fluctuating capacities? What if we let time collapse into disjointed diaries, ancestral downloads, and poetic interrogations?

Through embodied ways of reading and studying various storytelling technologies by Black disabled, chronically ill, queer, trans, and/or feminist writers, we will:

• Slowly shape a collection of narrative writings that experiment with multimodal methods for expressing crip aliveness and brilliance.

• Nurture a creative writing practice that “insists on care” and honors nonlinearity, inquiry, interruptions, and delays.

• Discuss disability semantics and co-conspire ways we can disrupt narrative norms.

In this workshop series, “writing” is expansive, spacious, and can take various shifts in format. Muddled, incomplete works are encouraged here. No homework — all readings and experimental writing prompts take place during each class with links and digital resources provided.

The weeks will move between engaging in study and discussions about the literary work followed by writing prompts and experimentation with the studied form. There will be space for processing reflections with generative, supportive dialogue.

You can read about the full workshop experience here and book your place here.

Thank you,

Char