Transitioning out of the white gaze to become more authentic, the WNBA and WOCW present Between Pleasure and Pain: an Authentic Voices Anthology by the 2022 fellows: Shipra Agarwal, Akanksha Aurora, Jae Carey, Jenna Mayzouni, Jenise Miller, Shaina Nez, and Leah Whitcomb.

Come take a journey with us into a world unfiltered and raw; into a space extremely personal and deeply erotic. We invite you to stay a while to see our culture through our eyes, our imagination, and our pen. Welcome to a world between pleasure and pain. (Available for purchase in Spring 2023)

Shipra Agarwal is a doctor-turned-author who studied creative writing at Harvard. An assistant fiction editor at Identity Theory, Shipra’s stories are based in the small towns of India, similar to the one she grew up in. Her work has appeared in Witness Magazine, FlashFlood, and Janus Literary. Shipra’s WIP, That Thing We Don’t Talk About, was shortlisted for the First Pages Prize, 2022. When she is not writing, Shipra hosts the interview series, Yatra, which documents the varied journeys of people of color in the literary world.

Akanksha Aurora is a Los Angeles-based writer and comedian from Mumbai, India. From complex trauma and assimilation to dating and neurotic machinations, Akanksha’s writing brings light and levity to all dimensions of the young immigrant experience. Her varied writing portfolio includes preschool programming for Disney and Moonbug, comedy podcast reviews for Vulture, and international stand-up performances. When she’s not writing, Akanksha produces a monthly arts showcase featuring performers from marginalized communities, and can be found on TikTok making Bollywood-style GRWM videos or working on her creative nonfiction collection, Manic Pixie Ethnic Girl.

Jae Carey discovered auto-ethnography and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictee, and became fascinated with memoir writing outside the box. As a trans-national and trans-racial adoptee, Jae is inspired by questions of roots, grief, and mythology. Her work as a birth/death doula has been a source of practice, inspiration, and insight in her writing and she feels most at home with words (and worlds) that make space for the unspeakable.

Jenna Mayzouni is a Palestinian Jordanian American author. Her stories focus on the narratives of Black Indigenous people of color (BIPOC), immigrants, and trauma, with a keen interest in intrapersonal family dynamics. Jenna majored in International Studies and minored in English literature, focusing on immigration issues and women’s rights. Her work has been featured in Women’s Republic and AnimeFem.

Jenise Miller is an Afro-Panamanian poet, writer, and urban planner from Compton, California. She is a California Arts Council Artist Fellow, a recent PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, and a Tin House alumna. Jenise is a Pushcart-nominated poet, and the author of the poetry chapbook, "The Blvd." Her writing can be found in the Acentos Review, Boom California, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, and the forthcoming essay anthology, Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California.

Shaina A. Nez is a Diné mother, writer, and doctoral student. She is Táchii’nii born for Áshįįhi. Shaina has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and her work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Yellow Medicine Review, Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World from Woodhall Press, Chapter House Magazine, and Abalone Mountain Press. She is an alum of Tin House and a recipient of the 2021 Open Door Career Advancement Grants for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) women writers.

Leah Nicole Whitcomb is a writer, medium, and interdisciplinary artist from central Mississippi. She holds a BA in communication studies and co-hosts the Hoodoo Plant Mamas podcast. Her work has been featured in Root Work Journal, The Rumpus, An Injustice! Mag, and elsewhere. Leah is currently working on her debut memoir exploring purity culture in the Bible Belt as well as a young adult romance series.