Because the writing life can be a lonely life, it helps to learn how other writers navigate the ups and downs and twists and turns of their creative journeys.
If you want to feel less alone as a writer, join us for the Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Conversation Series with Charlotte Donlon in conversation with Danté Stewart and Nefertiti Robinson. Hear about Danté's and Nefertiti's experiences at the intersection of art, faith, and writing. We will also explore a few themes in Danté's first book, Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle, and hear a couple of short readings from Danté.
This online Zoom conversation is presented by Spiritual Direction for Writers™ and Church Street Coffee & Books. It will take place on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 7 p.m. CT.
All tickets include online access to the live event and exclusive access to a Read, Write, & Pray with Shoutin’ in the Fire resource incorporating themes from the conversation within 48 hours of the event’s conclusion. See more about Charlotte’s Read, Write, & Pray resources here.
*Please note all attendees will be off-camera and muted for the entire conversation. The chat box and Q&A functionality will be available for those who'd like to use them. We will have someone monitoring the chat section to make this a safe and distraction-free event for all who attend.
Coming Soon
October 2022: Spiritual Direction for Writers Conversation Series: Lauren F. Winner and Jamie Quatro
November 2022: Spiritual Direction for Writers Conversation Series: Leticia Ochoa Adams and Catherine Ricketts
Subscribe to Spiritual Direction for Writers to stay in the know.
Danté Stewart is a writer and speaker whose voice has been featured on CNN, The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment Magazine, and more. He is the author of the debut memoir Shoutin’ in the Fire. As an up and coming voice, he writes and speaks into the areas of race, religion, and politics. He received his B.A. in Sociology from Clemson University. He is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
Nefertiti Robinson is a writer, historian-in-training and jazz vocalist. Writing on the intersections of faith and race and gender, her work is published on evangelical platforms like 'Radical'. Currently studying public history at Augusta University and serving as a leader and social media manager on the 1970 Augusta Riot Steering Committee, she is a community advocate working on manifesting commemorative justice in the greater Augusta area. As a jazz vocalist, she mixes oration and storytelling with the American songbook to advocate for Black art.Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
“This book is a kind of map in stories and truths to how we might, as a people, become more whole.” –Krista Tippett
In Shoutin’ in the Fire, Danté Stewart gives breathtaking language to his reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy—both the kind that hangs over our country and the kind that is internalized on a molecular level. Stewart uses his personal experiences as a vehicle to reclaim and reimagine spiritual virtues like rage, resilience, and remembrance—and explores how these virtues might function as a work of love against an unjust, unloving world.
In 2016, Stewart was a rising leader at the predominantly white evangelical church he and his family were attending in Augusta, Georgia. Like many young church leaders, Stewart was thrilled at the prospect of growing his voice and influence within the community, and he was excited to break barriers as the church’s first Black preacher.
But when Donald Trump began his campaign, so began the unearthing. Stewart started overhearing talk in the pews—comments ranging from microaggressions to outright hostility toward Black Americans. As this violence began to reveal itself en masse, Stewart quickly found himself isolated amid a people unraveled; this community of faith became the place where he and his family now found themselves most alone.
This set Stewart on a journey—first out of the white church and then into a liberating pursuit of faith—by looking to the wisdom of the saints that have come before, including James H. Cone, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, and by heeding the paradoxical humility of Jesus himself. This sharply observed journey is an intimate meditation on coming of age in a time of terror. Stewart reveals the profound faith he discovered even after experiencing the violence of the American church: a faith that loves Blackness; speaks truth to pain and trauma; and pursues a truer, realer kind of love than the kind we’re taught, a love that sets us free.
Event Organizer:
Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers™ and Parenting with Art™. She is also the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University where she studied creative nonfiction with Paula Huston and Lauren F. Winner. She holds a certificate in spiritual direction from Selah Center for Spiritual Formation. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and other good things, subscribe to her Five Good Things email newsletter.