Literature
Literary Biography
Maya Washington is a multi-genre poet and writer. Her debut memoir, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar My Father and the Team that Changed the Game is a Kindle Best Seller and an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best History, as well as a 2023 Minnesota Book Awards Finalist.
Maya holds a BA from the University of Southern California, and received an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University where she was a student poetry editor of Water ~ Stone Review. Maya’s literary background includes dramatic writing for stage and screen, children’s literature, fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.
Maya’s poems, and prose have appeared in UnderReview Lit (Pushcart Nomination), Water~Stone, Perigee-Apogee Journal, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, Talking Stick, Angel Face, Rock Paper Scissors, Lone Star Legacy and others. Her monologue appears in The Playwrights’ Center Monologues for Women (Heinemann Drama, 2005), as an excerpt from her full-length play South of Adams West of Figueroa, which received a staged reading at Congo Square Theatre in Chicago as part of the August Wilson Playwriting Initiative.
Her literary poetry and prose are featured in a number of recent anthologies including, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2 : Black Girl Magic edited by Mahogany L. Browne, Idrissa Simmonds, and Jamila Woods (Haymarket Books 2018), Nothing To Lose But Our Chains: Black Voices on Activism, Resistance and Love edited by Marvin K. White (Justice Matters Press, 2018) and The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the Twenty-First Century edited by Cathy J. Scholund-Vials and Tara Betts (2Leaf Press, 2017). She is the editor of White Space Poetry Anthology featuring the work of deaf and hearing poets as a companion to her award-winning short film, White Space.
A few publications where Maya Washington’s work can be found…
Bookstore
Through The Banks of the Red Cedar
Also available in Audio and E-book
Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
Amazon Editor’s Pick Best History
Minnesota Book Awards 2023 Finalist
A warm and invigorating memoir about a daughter’s love for her father and her appreciation for how he and others changed the game of football forever.
Gene Washington’s football career ended long before his daughter Maya was born. She never saw the legendary powerhouse as anything but her dad. She didn’t yet grasp the impact he’d had on the sport―and on America. To understand his historic role in the integration of college football, witness his influence on generations that followed, and fully appreciate his legacy, Maya had a lot of catching up to do.
Maya retraces her father’s journey from the segregated south to Michigan State during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement and his journey as an NFL pioneer after the 1967 draft. She reflects on how her father’s childhood―and the racism he faced―shaped her upbringing and influenced his expectations of her. She also discovers how unbreakable the emotional bond between teammates can be. But above all, Maya and her father get to know each other. As their own bond deepens, so does Maya’s connection to the sport that changed the trajectory of her father’s life…and hers.
White Space Poetry Anthology
White Space Poetry Anthology is a brave collection of poetry and art featuring the work of deaf and hearing poets and artists from White Space Poetry Project. Experimental works, by some of America's hottest award-winning and new talent including Raymond Luczak, Kristen Ringman, Randall Horton, Phillip B. Williams, Su Smallen and Bianca Spriggs, explore both literal and metaphorical white space and its sonic relationship to the page. Contributors: Tara Lee Bautista, Sandy Beach, Destiny Birdsong, Ed Bock, Karen Christie, Douglas Despres, Chiyuma Elliott, Kimberly Eridon, Rachel Fogarty-Oleson, Jessica Fox-Wilson, Hafizah Geter, Daniel O. Harris, Christopher Heuer, Randall Horton, Ashaki M. Jackson, Khary Jackson, Autumn Joy Jimerson, Haley Laschè, Jill Lombardi, Raymond Luczak, Meghan Maloney-Vinx, Zendrea Mitchell, Marisa Quinn, Kristen Ringman, Curtis Robbins, Sarah Roesler Conbere, Su Smallen, Bianca Spriggs, Kelli Stevens Kane, Matthew Stranach, Michelle Whittaker, Donna Williams, Phillip B. Williams, Keith Wilson, L. Lamar Wilson, Renee Zepeda
Flossy Literati
A motivational Etsy store for literary artists and other creatives.