CLENE` S. ELDER
Project Creator & Curator
Clene` S. Elder is an emerging writer focusing on social issues affecting diverse communities, women, and individuals with mental health conditions. Her professional background is in Criminal Justice, Law, Entrepreneurship, Organizational Leadership. She is also a Mental Health Peer Support Specialist and a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion professional.
Her selected works include:
The Stealth Villain (2011 & 2012), a personal essay about how, after many years of denying suffering, personifying Generalized Anxiety Disorder, helps identify its agenda. The narrative delves into the intricate and conflicting experiences of mental illness, particularly within the contexts of Black womanhood.
RED, WHITE, (BLACK) AND BLUE (2012), inspired by Ntozake Shange's body of work, this experiential choreopoem addresses the lived stress and duress within African American history, from pre-slavery to present day, using various art forms including poetry, visual art, and dance.
Of No One (Forthcoming), Inspired by true events, Annalise Shamere Sentient unravels as her absent father's passing interrupts her well-organized life. She learns more about him than she cares to know while preparing for his funeral leading to her questioning her entire existence.
Real Lives. Rich Narratives: Women’s Online Literary Peer Support Group (2020), A writing-based support group for women dealing with chronic mental and physical illnesses. Created during the pandemic, women from various backgrounds, came together to write and read against the backdrop of some of the worst tension this country's endured to work through their emotional and mental health challenges.
Unmasking the Villain (forthcoming), an anthology featuring essays and prose from Black women authors discussing the impacts and experiences of mental illness on themselves, families, relationships, and communities.
She conveys her thought-provoking perspectives using various sub-disciplines of literature in hopes to enrich and ignite audiences.