Tania De'Shawn Wins Magic City Poetry Festival Fellowship, Will Host Programs at BPL

The Magic City Poetry Festival (MCPF) has awarded the 2023 Eco-Poetry Fellowship to Birmingham's Tania De'Shawn.

Through this fellowship, in partnership with the Birmingham Public Library, Tania will produce events and initiatives which uplift and enlighten our community. Her fellowship and funding to produce her events are made possible by Spiritual Direction for Writers and WVTM NBC-13.

Ashley M. Jones, Executive Director of the Magic City Poetry Festival and Alabama's first black Poet Laureate, said Tania is well deserving of the fellowship.

"Since 2019, the Magic City Poetry Festival has selected a Birmingham-area poet for the Eco-Poetry Fellowship, an award which celebrates the ways in which poetry and the environment intersect," Jones said. "Tania is an incredible poet and community leader, and her mark on the City of Birmingham is evident in her work to date. We know that our environment is made up of not only flora and fauna, but also the community members we serve. In that spirit, each Eco-Poetry Fellow is partnered with a local organization which champions a cause which impacts our environment."

Tania De'Shawn, who last year presented two workshops at the Birmingham Public Library based on her poetry book Be Gentle With Black Girls, is honored to receive the fellowship from the Magic City Poetry Festival.

"I am beyond thrilled to be the 2023 Eco Poetry Fellow," Tania said. "I am grateful to continue pouring into the community in this new role. I am thankful to our community for how much we embrace and support one another. Not everyone gets to be in an atmosphere like ours. I am grateful that being perfect or extraordinary are not prerequisites for doing the things we love."

Tania De'Shawn is meeting with the Birmingham Public Library to work out details on her Eco-Poetry events. Stay tuned for updates once dates and times are finalized.

Tania said, "I look forward to partnering with the Birmingham Public Library, Magic City Poetry Festival, and local creatives to create wonderful programs to water the seeds of creativity within all of us. Thank you to WVTM 13 and Spiritual Direction for Writers for sponsoring this fellowship. Thank you, Magic City Poetry Festival for creating spaces for poets to learn and thrive."

Click below to learn more about Tania De'Shawn:

Tania De'Shawn hosts workshop November 18 on body imaging at the North Birmingham Regional Library

Meet Tania De'Shawn, host of a program on Adultification Bias and Protecting Black Childhood

Al..com article on Tania De'Shawn new book Be Gentle with Black girls

BPL Book Review: Be Gentle With Black Girls