“Continue to be creative in your field by not stopping. Keep writing and performing. That is what makes you a poet, storyteller, writer, and performer. Start by starting.”
Quick Facts
Education: Graduate School
Years of Experience: 10 Years
About
Quwana James started writing and never stopped. That is how she describes it, because simplicity is the point. Her poems are about everything, always from an adult perspective. Every poem and short story rhyme to attempt to make the best sense of the world around her. With a decade of experience, Quwana continues practicing her craft of adult poetry and storytelling.
Working as a licensed professional counselor and a poet, Quwana’s two lives are not often in conflict. Counseling adds to her writing a depth of attention and care, coming from spending her days listening with intention to people. She brings that same quality of presence to her craft.
She is currently working on her first poetry book, due out in the fall of 2026. It is the next step in a quiet and consistent process that she has been building, which reflects her belief that becoming a storyteller is simple: do not stop. Quwana emphasizes that waiting to feel ready or until everything is polished is a feeling that should be avoided. “Keep writing and performing,” she says. “That is what makes you a poet, storyteller, writer, and performer.” Start by starting and then keep going from there.