About Keeonna Harris
Keeonna Harris (she/her) is storyteller, interdisciplinary artist, mother of five and an abolitionist scholar. Keeonna was born and raised in Watts, and other parts of South-Central Los Angeles, California. In her writing, Keeonna explores conceptions of motherhood, familial relationships, and wellbeing for Black women in the United States--focusing on the health disparities, relationships, and radical organizing for women connected to systems of mass incarceration. Keeonna's debut memoir "Mainline Mama" was published with Amistad Press in February 2025. She has written for Salon.com and has a chapter in the anthology "So We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, Loss, Abortion, and Birth" edited by Aracelis Girmay (Haymarket Books, 2023) and an interview in "(Super)vision: On Motherhood and Surveillance" edited by Sophie Hamcher (Orbis, 2023). Keeonna is an inaugural recipient of the 2018-2019 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship and the 2024-2025 Haymarket Writing for Freedom Fellowship. She also received the 2021 Tin House Summer Writing Residency, the 2023 Baldwin Center for the Arts Residency, a 2023 Hedgebrook Writer in Residence, 2023 Edith Wharton Resident and a 2025 Vermont Studio Resident. Keeonna received her PhD from Arizona State University in 2021 and is currently resides in the Seattle area.
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