mallessa

About Les

Les James is an emerging writer mixing poetry, prayer, protest, and a sense of playfulness to explore interweaving questions about nature, science, social justice, and human evolution.

Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in several anthologies and online publications, including The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry; The Center for Humans and Nature: Stories & Ideas; and Michigan Quarterly Review; among others. Her art has appeared in EcoTheo Review, Geez, Edge Effects, Syracuse Cultural Workers’ Peace Calendar 2024, and elsewhere.

A 2023 Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholar, Les has also received supported from the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, Collegeville Institute, Peter Bullough Foundation, Foundation House, and Kenyon Institute.

Originally from the lands of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations (Chicago metro), Les identifies as a Black, sci-fi fantasy loving, cis-gender female person of the global majority who enjoys extended walks, expansive conversations, and extra spicy food.

Published Work

Poetry

TBD, Writing the Land: Virginia anthology. NatureCulture LLC (Forthcoming)

“Nature being” | When We Exhale: An Anthology of Black Women Rooted In Ancestral Medicine, Black Freighter Press (Forthcoming)

“Home is where the heart is” | When We Exhale: An Anthology of Black Women Rooted In Ancestral Medicine, Black Freighter Press (Forthcoming)

“Maybe Mother Earth is an angry Black woman too” | When We Exhale: An Anthology of Black Women Rooted In Ancestral Medicine, Black Freighter Press (Forthcoming)

“Odd sympathy” | 1619 Speaks, Sims Library of Poetry (2023)

"A universe within" | Stories & Ideas. The Center for Humans and Nature, Libertyville, IL (2023)

“American dreams / Wake-up call” | Fractured Union: American Democracy on the Brink (Special Issue), Michigan Quarterly Review Online, University of Michigan (2022)

“The struggle is real” | Consilience, Issue 8: Entropy (2022)

"Dark natured" | BLUU Notes An Anthology of Love, Justice, and Liberation, Black Lives of Unitarian Universalists, Skinner House Books (2022)

“Why Black women write horror stories” | The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, & Superhero Poetry anthology, Blair (2021)

"Why Black women write horror stories" | The Black Liberation Blueprint, Blackroots Alliance (2021)

“On purity and truth: A reflection on the Robert E. Lee Monument (1890-?)” | 2020 Visions: Imagining (Post-) COVID Worlds Series; Edge Effects; Center for Culture, History, and Environment; University of Wisconsin-Madison (2021)

“Mother prayer” | Issue 001: Black, Gumbo Magazine, Gumbo Media (2020)

Artwork and Photography

"Protest Shrine" | 2024 Peace Calendar, Syracuse Cultural Workers (2023)

“Locked In, Locked Out, Interlocked” (photo collage) | EcoTheo Review, EcoTheo Collective (2022)

“Intersecting” (chalk pastels, digitally modified) | 2023 Art Calendar, Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center (2022)

"Snails in Scotland" (photography) | Issue 65: Sex, Geez magazine (2022)

"Feelings" (photography and digital collage) | Issue 65: Sex, Geez magazine (2022)

"On the James" (photography) | Take Me Away - Summer Fun and Vacations juried group show, Art Works Gallery - Richmond (2021)

"On truth and purity" (photography) | 2020 Visions: Imagining (Post-) COVID Worlds Series; Edge Effects; Center for Culture, History, and Environment; University of Wisconsin-Madison (2021)

"Carried Away: Cedar Rapids, IA Summer 2008" 1 &2 (photography) | Best Depiction of Theme Award, Flood Awareness Week juried group show, Art Works Gallery - Richmond (2021)

"LA Escape" (photography) | Juried group show, Art Works Gallery - Richmond (2021)

"Biloxi Shrine" 1 & 2 (photography) | Flood Awareness Week juried group show, Art Works Gallery - Richmond (2020)

Awards & Fellowships

Oak Spring Garden Foundation Scholarship, Writing the Landscape, ( 2023)

About You, About Me Workshop, Collegeville Institute (2023)

Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholar, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference (2023)

Artist Residency | Peter Bullough Foundation ( 2023)

Artist Residency | Foundation House (2022)

1st Prize in the Humor for Serious Subjects category, Thinking Funny Humor Writing Contest (2022)

Storyteller / Resident Artist | Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (2021)

Storyteller / Resident Artist | Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (2020)

Storyteller / Resident Artist | Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (2019)

Writing Spirit, Writing Faith Workshop, Collegeville Institute (2017)

Professional Activities

Guest speaker | Introduction to Creative Writing, St. Edward's University (2023)

"A Voice, A Light: Protest Poetry Virtual Showcase" (group reading) | Kitchen Table Literary Arts and The Poetry Foundation (2023)

"In Our Nature" (solo reading) | Wild Goose Festival (2023)

"The Future of Black: 21st Century Second-wave Afrofuturism" (panel) | Poetry Society of Virginia (2023)

Guest speaker | Blue Stone Writers (2023)

"The Future of Black" (panel) | American Writers Festival, American Writers Museum (2022)

"Just Work: A conversation on the progress we've made and what still remains to achieve Black liberation" (virtual panel) | Blackroots Alliance (2021)

"In our nature: A theopoetics of science project" (virtual poster presentation) | The Mind, the Human-Earth Connection, and the Climate Crisis, Summer Research Institute, Mind and Life Institute (2021)

“The AI Q&A: A design fiction look at different points of view” (virtual presentation) | Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language and Media, Northern Illinois University (2021)

"The dictionary as a work of fiction" (podcast guest) | What Kindled Your Interest in Minds? Many Minds Podcast, Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (2020)

“Levels of mind as levels of matter” (virtual poster presentation) | Cultivating Prosocial Development Across the Lifespan: Context, Relationships, and Contemplative Practices, Summer Research Institute, Mind and Life Institute (2020)

“Body, heart, mind & spirit: Emergent images for inspirational & intuitive practices” (conference session) | Mystic Soul Conference: Radical Wholeness, Mystic Soul Project (2019)

“Embodying race as an emergent concept” (presentation) | Embodiment and Race Conference, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Clemson University (2019)

“Emergent levels: A framework for reimagining complex & cognitive systems” (presentation) | Complexity in the Humanities and Sciences Conference, Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis (2019)