Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a Blk radical leftist writer, ecowomanist, and cultural memory worker. She is the creator and inaugural resident of The Ntozake Shange Social Justice Playwriting Residency at The Public Theater in partnership with Barnard College and the Shange Trust. Erika is the independent steward of The Daughters Table, a 14-acre regenerative organic farm in south Louisiana. Select Awards: PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award (2023), Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2021), Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Lilly Award (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Productions: shadow/land (The Public Theater, 2023), cullud wattah (The Public Theater, 2021). Erika lives in New Orleans.