Walela Nehanda

Walela Nehanda (they/them) is Black, queer, nonbinary disabled, cultural worker, poet, and author of Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir (Penguin Teen). They have been featured as part of Out Magazine's Class of 2020 consisting of 100 "groundbreaking, ripple-inducing, and culture-shifting people in the nation," alongside the likes of Janelle Monae and Andre Leon Talley. They have been featured and written for publications such as TIME Magazine, SELF Magazine and Nylon Magazine. Walela has performed, provided keynotes, and given workshops at various academic institutions including University of Iowa, University of Southern California (USC), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Chapman University, Cal Poly Pomona, Claremont McKenna College, University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and many more.