Kathya Alexander

Kathya Alexander is an author, playwright, storyteller, and teaching artist. Growing up in Arkansas in the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement greatly impacted her life and continues to influence her writing. In addition to several other awards, she won the coveted Artist Trust Fellowship and the Fringe First Award for her play, Black to My Roots: African American Tales from the Head and the Heart at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Returning to the Festival with the 25th anniversary revision of Black to My Roots, she won the Binge Fringe Black Performers Award for Excellence in Writing. She has written several plays and was a Writer-in-Residence, was showcased at the Inaugural Playwrights Festival, and was a guest playwright at the prestigious Hedgebrook Writer’s Community. She also runs The Write To Breathe Summer Youth Theater, a drama program for Black youth. Angel In The Outhouse is her collection of short stories, and her debut novel Keep A’Livin' was released in 2024 by Aunt Lute Books. The audiobook of Keep A'Livin' is available now thanks to awards from the Jack Straw Writers Support Program and 4Culture at www.kathyaalexander.com.