Inner space cultivation; aligned expression of authentic truth
Thank you for your desire to contribute to this anthology of intimate literature and visual art; thank you for being a necessary part of this community.
Issue 5: To Be a Living Ancestor
In this issue of our Literary Anthology, we wish to explore our humanity through a sacred lens.
As beings of the Earth, we begin a physical ancestral journey as soon as we’re born. There is wisdom that lives through and beyond each of us, and there is wisdom waiting to be created through our individual and collective life experiences.
Through the body, through what is woven, through our choices, through what is passed down, through forgetting, through remembering, through breaking apart, through union, through birth, through completion — what can it mean To Be A Living Ancestor? Not an individual only looking to those who came before for guidance, but an individual genuinely, messily, intentionally (or unconsciously), living their ancestral experience?
Meet the Editorial Team for this issue…
We love to collaborate with passionate writers, artists, readers, and community builders when crafting each issue of our Literary Anthology. Our Editorial Team rotates and is always diverse, intentional, trauma-informed, and involves community members who embody the ethos of Wellspringwords® in their own unique ways.
Nkem Chukwumerije
Managing Editor & Issue 1 Contributor
California, USA
Nkem is the Founder of Wellspringwords® and has been a teacher of writing for almost 15 years. She is a heartist devoted to creating spaces for humans to journey inward and align with their unique creative wisdom. She uses her passion for and expertise in writing, embodiment, and energy cultivation to create portals for internal transformation and authentic external creative expression. She is inspired by the soul-to-human experience, the wisdom of nature, and the magic of intention and belief.
Nkem is the author of Neptune Skies and the poetry collections Poetry and the immediate: A collection of sensed spaces and Fullness Dawns, loves to dance, cook, enjoy warm drinks in the morning, and take long walks to connect with Mother Earth.
Learn more about her via her website www.bynkem.co.
Damara Woodring
Guest Editor & Issue 3 Cover Artist
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Damara Woodring, also known as The Portrait Priestess, creates art as ritual—each self-portrait a meditation and sacred act of reflection. Her work offers a quiet invitation to pause, breathe, and reconnect with one’s essence. Through intuitive imagery and emotional depth, Damara explores the distance we often feel from ourselves, using photography as a mirror to guide us home. With each piece, she crafts space for truth, stillness, and inner dialogue, transforming art into a soulful, transformative experience.
Learn more about her via her website: rootandthreadbookbinding.com
Sabreen Jolley-Brown
Guest Editor & Issue 4 Contributor
Louisiana, USA
Sabreen J. Sudan-Jolley (she/her) is a writer and storyteller exploring themes of identity, memory, and resilience. She is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins and has participated in the Wild Seeds Writers Retreat and the Château Orquevaux French Writing Residency. Her work has appeared in Root Work Journal, and she is a self-published author. Sabreen weaves poetry and prose to illuminate the bridges between survival, heritage, and healing, crafting stories that nourish both the heart and mind.
Connect with your authentic artistry as you prepare to share your writing and art…
Intuitive Writing for Self-Discovery
Self-Paced Course
Follow the course at your own pace, and return whenever needed to refine your writing + creative skills as you (re)discover your Sacred Self.
Enhance your writing skills while you deepen your creative wellness, spiritual exploration, and self-discovery journey through this unique writing course. Includes video and audio immersions, guided writing exploration, creative embodiment practices, intuitive & informative teachings, guided meditations, and more.
Embodied Storytelling
Self-Paced Course
Allow your intellect to merge with intuition and your Erotic nature as you sink into a unique experience of Embodied Storytelling.
Connect to the "world of words" through your sacred embodiment. Includes video and audio immersions, guided writing exploration, creative embodiment practices, intuitive & informative teachings, guided meditations, and more.