I write from the intersections of grief and liberation, memory and magic, rage and reverence.
As the founder of Cowrie Crossings, my writing exists alongside my facilitation and ritual work, anchored in Black and Indigenous cosmologies, feminist resistance, and the embodied belief that another world is not only possible but already emerging through our stories. I write to compost empire, tend to grief, and root us in the futures we deserve. Whether in the form of essays, novellas, meditations, facilitation guides, or grief invocations, my words move with the rhythms of the land, ancestral memory, and communal healing.
My work lives at the intersection of grief and imagination; grief for what’s been stolen, destroyed, or denied, and imagination for what can still be nurtured into being. I write as a Black and Indigenous femme, a cultural worker, and a facilitator of ritual and resistance. My writing is not separate from my organizing, spiritual practice, or care labor. It is all part of the same root system.
The clarity of bell hooks influences my work, the cultural diagnostics of Resmaa Menakem, the truth-telling of Toni Morrison, the visionary structure of Octavia Butler, and the grounded, gut-level praxis of adrienne maree brown. My writing centers the dignity of marginalized lives, holds space for discomfort, and invites my readers into reflection, rupture, and repair.
I primarily write for those navigating grief, collective trauma, political disillusionment, and longing for connection outside capitalist extraction. I believe writing can be both a tool and a talisman.
Latest pieces:
“I Only Limp When I’m Loved” - issue 7 of SICK magazine
“Good Meat” - COOP! Magazine
“Slip” - Radical Catalyst Art & Literary Journal
“I Wish I Was The Dead Girl” - a poem published in Bloodlust Magazine
“Black Girl, Initiate” - Bloodlust Magazine blog
“Congratulations. You Survived.” - NAVY PEN
“Not Your Jezebel” - Safe Slut Talk zine
“Trust Fall” - self-published
“a poem for Renee Good” - self-published
“goldilocks got a lease now” - a poem published in Issue Six of Recenter Press
“Atlantis” - a poem published in Black Feminist Collective
“Stage 2” - a poem published in Black Feminist Collective
Forthcoming in 2026:
“Redlines to Rootlines: Landback as Afrofuturist Architecture” - Echoes of the Earth: Black Voices Reclaiming Ecology and Justice, Cassava Republic Press
“Inedible: Black Aliveness and the Hunger of Empire” - Dead Pretty Anthology, Nottingham Horror Collective
“Dinner Is Served” - HNDL Magazine
““Love Left at the Frontlines” and “Ayo” - Sardine Can Collective
“Hostage in the Heartland: Black Queer Lives Beyond Madea” - Ebony Tomatoes Collective
“Mycelium Meditation” - warmly.zine
“Milkweed Season” - Love & Literature Magazine
🌿 My Writing
You’ll find essays, meditations, and cultural criticism that explore:
Grief & loss (both personal and collective)
Embodied liberation
Black & Indigenous cosmologies
Anti-fascist dreaming and speculative futures
Mutual aid and solidarity economies
Queer & feminist reflections on pop culture, power, and kinship
🪴 Services I Offer
You can hire me to write or collaborate on:
✍🏽 Personal essays and creative nonfiction
📚 Cultural or political commentary
🧰 DEI and justice-oriented writing for nonprofits (blogs, newsletters, curricula)
🌀 Workshop-based writing guides, ritual texts, or reflection prompts
💌 Grief-informed content for spiritual or care-centered spaces
💸 Rates & Access
Click here to download my full rate sheet →
🤝 Let’s Work Together
Are you an editor, organizer, educator, or spiritual leader looking to collaborate?
Send me a pitch, invitation, or question:
📧 cowriecrossings@gmail.com
📍 Oakland, California
🌐 @MayaGawoniiwrites on Instagram
I’m open to assignments, commissions, partnerships, and mutual aid-based writing projects. Let’s create something mutually nourishing.
