I’m a poet, storyteller, and mentor building gate-free literary futures across borders.
I work between West Africa and Canada, creating spaces where emerging poets can write, think, and grow without having to perform urgency, pedigree, or proximity to power. My work is rooted in language, lineage, and the belief that creative life flourishes through time, trust, and shared attention.
I run Archipel, an international Substack and gathering place for writers and thinkers across geographies. Through essays, interviews, and craft notes, Archipel explores how language, place, and mentorship shape not just poems, but sustainable creative lives.
Reader support keeps this work open and accessible — and directly funds my mentorship of emerging poets through the Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship. The scholarship provides financial support, sustained mentorship, and visibility for poets who are too often asked to produce before they are supported.
Every contribution — a coffee, a subscription, a donation — helps create time, space, and guidance for writers to develop their voices on their own terms.
This isn’t about hustle or gatekeeping.
It’s about building a poet’s year — slowly, collectively, and with care.
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