Sakena is a writer and storyteller based in Pittsburgh, PA.
Sakena Jwan Washington (she/her) is a Pittsburgh boomeranger and creative nonfiction writer. She was recently named the 2024-25 Emerging Black Writer-in-Residence at Chatham University where she is teaching MFA in Creative Writing students and developing a limited-edition chapbook as part of the Boosie Bolden Chapbook Series published by The Fourth River. She is also the current guest editor for Tributaries, the weekly online publication for The Fourth River. Her work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Huffington Post, Jellyfish Review, and others. In 2021, her flash essay, "The Blood Remains" was nominated for the 2021 Best of the Net anthology. She is also one of five Pittsburgh-based storytellers who documented the public art project, "Art in Parks" in the city's Allegheny Regional Asset District parks. She studied English at Clark Atlanta University and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.
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She’s available for freelance writing assignments and projects.