One evening in 2016, Anastacia-Reneé took me by the shoulders on a specific Capitol Hill dance floor during Lit Crawl, both of which no longer exist, and spoke loudly into my face, “Finish your book!”
I had moved to Seattle the summer before and ventured into Hugo House, when it was still a house, where I witnessed Anastacia on stage many times. As a Hugo House Fellow in 2016, I got to workshop with her and she cheered me on from the start. It meant everything; it still does. Just months ago, I overheard her say nearly the very same thing to a mutual friend, and it reminded me of the many people Anastacia has been rooting on: taking the time to hold us up while she prolifically produces her own work. She cares about us, about our work, and about our hearts. She wants us to win.
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Anastacia fleshed out her multi-hyphenate mind in Seattle as a poet, playwright, director, visual artist, educator, curator, and cross-genre writer whose work has never obeyed one form.
She moved here about two decades ago to raise her children Brandin (also known by their drag persona, Hoochie Papa) and Indigo (a fashion designer). During that time she found her partner, poet Naa Akua, with whom she’ll celebrate 10 years of marriage this summer. She also became the city’s second Civic Poet, served as a Jack Straw curator, won numerous awards and residencies, and taught and mentored generations of writers in classrooms, workshops, and arts organizations. She’s published eight books, with two more on the way—a novel and a collection of poetry called Shuffle Cut Pull. Her most recent publication, 2024’s Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere, is a hybrid collection of poetry, flash fiction, and Afrofuturist sci-fi.
“I didn’t feel like I knew Seattle and how to fit within it as a young Black queer poet until I met Anastacia.”
Even with a formidable resume, Anastacia is still learning and exploring. I asked her what it felt like to receive this award, and she confessed she had trouble taking it all in. “I have been the other, the afterthought, the fill-in so many times. It can mess with your worth. Somebody [reading this] who might be [in that position]: Know that you are amazing.”
We need Anastacia winning because her spirit is the bedrock of a community she helped build in this city and beyond. She is an emblem for exactly where Seattle needs investment, and this award can be a beautiful beginning.
Anastacia has lived in New York City since 2022. But if the Genius Awards hadn’t disappeared for a decade, it’s hard to imagine we wouldn’t have celebrated her much sooner. This award recognizes the enormous body of work she made here, the literary community she helped shape, and the generations of writers she encouraged, taught, challenged, and made room for along the way.
When Anastacia left Seattle after 15 years, she spoke publicly about needing a new environment for the next stage of her personal and creative growth. She was also candid about the difficulties of making a life and career here, particularly as a Black artist. Multiple things can be true at once: You can love a place and help make it what it is, and eventually need to leave it in order to grow. But her investment in Seattle remains: Anastacia is still here every month; some of her nearest and dearest are here. And her influence is everywhere.
There is a larger Seattle story here, too. The literature ecosystem has thinned considerably over the past decade: the city has become extraordinarily expensive, while many of the institutions and opportunities that once helped artists build sustainable lives have disappeared.
Anastacia knows wht that can cost. “[Seattle is] losing some of our most creative people, because they cannot survive,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how well they paint, it doesn’t matter how well they sing, how many books. If you don’t have your basic needs, you cannot be creative.”
Still, Anastacia is a success story because, as she says, “If you lay down a list of everything that the powers that be are against, I’m at least six or seven things on that list, and I’m still working. I’m still writing.” The return of the Genius Awards is the return of one opportunity to celebrate what’s long fed the city we love. Shining a light on a brilliant mind that helped shape this city is to also shine light where more investment is needed and overdue.
If you make art in Seattle, know that Anastacia boldly opened a door for you a long time ago because she wants you to make what you’re making. Be inspired; know you’re standing on strong shoulders. And in her name, make room for those coming up behind you.
I could spend thousands of words on Anastacia-Reneé’s work and describing the impact of her mentorship on this city’s writers. Instead, I’ll let them speak for themselves about how she inspired them:
Anyone who’s seen Anastacia perform live will agree with me—it’s like a religious experience, it will knock the wind out of you. They are a uniquely embodied writer, one of the few writers I’d actually consider visionary. –Max Delsohn, author of Crawl
Without A, I don’t know myself as a poet, I don’t know Seattle as a literary city. She demonstrates a dexterity in craft that is only made possible because of the unique blend of heart and intellect she possesses. To be in the rigorous light of her work is to know another, better world is possible. I would fight anyone to bring that world a little closer to bear. –Dujie Tahat, Seattle Civic Poet
I owe Anastacia everything. I would not exist as a poet, as a person, without A’s genius; without their care. A is my model. I wanna write like them; I wanna show up like them; I wanna work as hard as they do. She really is one of one and the absolute best of us. –Quenton Baker, author of Ballast
Like many literary luminaries, Anastacia-Reneé is a translator. She interprets politics through poetry, power dynamics through performance, and divine lesson through psalm. And her humor! She’s so funny it hurts. Her brilliance is for the ages. She’s one of those rare beings who makes the heaviness of our times a little easier to bear. –Jen Soriano, author of Nervous
Anastacia is family to me, someone who understands that the creative spirits within you (yes, plural!) need to be fed, hugged, and lathered in laughter. We always text each other: “What did you eat today?” A literal and metaphorical question. As a teacher and mentor, she has changed the path for so many writers, including my students. I adore her and everything she writes, makes, teaches, dreams up; I’m so lucky to be making art alongside her, now and forever. –Jane Wong, author of Overpour and Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City
By the time I met Anastacia-Reneé as a colleague through Writers in the Schools in 2015, they were already an icon. I learned quickly, as a transplant to Seattle, that most of the writers I knew were mentored by Anastacia. They were the warm, life-giving engine of the Seattle writing world. Their genre-busting prose and poetry set the voice of the Seattle literary world which to this day remains genre-expansive, collaborative, and affirming. Anastacia was constantly crashing through a white and constrictive ceiling in this city, from their one-woman performance getting banned and then reclaimed, to fighting for fair pay for teaching artists, for holding non-profit literary orgs to the basic standard to walk their diversity talk. Anastacia is someone that shows what is possible as both an activist, artist, and educator: that our writing can fuel our activist movements and keep us alive and nourished while our hearts break, and that it is in this broken place that we find and share our joy. –Corinne Manning, author of We Had No Rules
I met Anastacia when she taught a poetry class at Seattle University. I didn’t feel like I truly knew Seattle and how to fit within it as a young Black queer poet until I met Anastacia. Her recent exhibition “PIECES OF YOURSELF (THERE)” created a space that boldly faced the tragedy and yet also held and exemplified the spiritual resistance Black women and Black people uphold against domination. Anything Anastacia does bears fruits from the deep roots of her own poetic prowess and kindness—I feel lucky as a previous student and mentee to be a beneficiary of both. –Serena Dokuaa, poet and AI policy expert
How do you describe someone who enters every room as sunshine personified? That alone should be enough, but not for my mother, Anastacia-Reneé. I’ve had the pleasure to watch her love, engage, and inspire people my entire life. An opportunity that I will never take for granted and one that I am in constant disbelief I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from. Anastacia is not only talented, but also holds a level of joy that is her not-so-secret ingredient. I’m forever in awe, proud, and filled with love knowing her, and being able to call her my mom. –Brandin, Anastacia’s kid
I have always been so inspired by my mom’s seemingly endless well of joy and artistic ability. I see the ways that she pours the entirety of her being into every piece of work she creates and it makes me want to do the same in my life and in my own creative pursuits. She’s a bright light, a brilliant mind, and a pillar of the community in Seattle. I couldn’t be more proud of her in every single way! –Indigo, Anastacia’s kid
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