Ariana Brown
*The birth of Ariana Brown is celebrated on this date in 1995. She is a Gay, Blaxican author, spoken word artist, and poet.
Brown was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her father was African American, and her mother was Mexican American. Brown identifies as a Black Mexican American person. She is queer and has an older sister. Growing up, Brown struggled to find representations of herself in literature, so she wrote poetry for young women who struggled to feel represented. She was also inspired by black movement leaders, specifically Malcolm X.
In 2011, she was a part of her first poetry slam team and performed at Brave New Voices. Brown received her Bachelor of Arts in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She also received a Master of Fine Arts in poetry at the University of Pittsburgh and is working on a poetry manuscript about her life, the formation of racial identity, cultural politics, and authenticity, among other themes. She has continued participating in poetry slams, has performed her poetry across the United States, and often holds poetry workshops focused on writing poetry that heals.
Brown writes poetry to uplift black people and pay homage to her ancestors and the history of her people. She wants to inspire and uplift disempowered communities through her poetry. She also uses her poetry to validate Black girl rage. Brown has been dubbed a "part-time curandera" because her poetry deals with healing issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual orientation. She weaves contemporary issues and tensions into her poetry. Her work has been featured in PBS, Huffington Post, Blavity, For Harriet, and Remezcla. 2014 she was part of a winning team at the National Collegiate Poetry Slam.
Ariana Brown has won the “Best Poet” award twice at the same event and is a two-time recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize. In early 2020, she published her debut poetry chapbook, Sana Sana, with Game Over Books.
