About Tina Jenkins Bell
Tina Jenkins Bell is a published fiction writer, playwright, freelance journalist, and literary activist. 2019 has been a very busy year for Bell. Her mini-memoir, Devil’s Alley, will appear in Us Against Alzheimers anthology in September 2019; her play Cut the Baby in Half will be featured in a staged dramatic reading at Greenline Theater Chicago, and she was a featured contributor (To the Moon and Back) in Hypertext Journal’s spring 2019 edition. Last year, a collaborative hybrid fictitious account of Robert Sandifer's (the young boy who was murdered by his own gang) last hours, entitled "Looking for the Good Boy" was accepted for publication in “They Said”, a Black Lawrence Press anthology. In January 2017, her short story, The Last Supper appeared in Revise the Psalm, an anthology that honors the life and works of Gwendolyn Brooks and has been favorably reviewed by Chicago Magazine, New City, and New York Times (in April 2017). Ms. Bell has had an excerpt from her novel-length manuscript, Mud Pies, published in the award-winning Hairtrigger anthology. Her other stories and prose have appeared in BAC Street Journal, Expressions, and Steam Ticket: a Third Coast Review, and Guildworks anthologies. Ms. Bell is a three-time DCASE Individual Artist Project grant recipient, an Illinois Arts Council grant recipient, a two-time Ragdale resident, and a 2015 short story fellow with Colgate University and the Midwest Writer’s Conference. Currently, Bell has been asked to compile a proposal for an anthology focusing on Gary, Indiana. She is working on her second novel, Family Legacies.
Additionally, as a co-founder of FLOW (For Love of Writing), Bell collaborates with a small core group of African American female writers, bookstores, and organizations to offer literary programming in Chicago’s literary desserts. She also facilitates craft and business workshops.
Aaron Mays (right) and me (left) after the staged reading of Cut the Baby in Half at the Green Line Performing Arts Center.
Incredibly talented troupe who performed the staged reading of my play, Cut the Baby In Half, Augus 2019. Aaon Mays, director, is seated in front. We were blessed with a full house at the Green Line Performing Arts Center.
Tina Bell (left end) holds a copy of "They Said” anthology at Volumes Bookstore.
PUBLICATIONS/OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
* To the Moon and Back, Hypertext Review spring edition
*Cut the Baby in Half Staged Reading at the Greenline Theater Chicago.
* Indigant Women Collective, Staged Reading of fictional account of meeting between Gwendolyn Brooks and Lorraine Hansberry, Chicago Humanities Festival, Northwestern University.
* Co-Editor for Variant Zine
* Indignant Women Collective (Dramatic writing group)
* Devil’s Alley, Us Against Alzheimers anthology, edited by Marita Golden (pub date fall 2019)
* Looking for the Good Boy Yummy, They Said (an anthology collaboration between Lewis University and Black Lawrence Press, June 2018)
* The Last Supper, Revise the Psalms (Gwendolyn Brooks’ Anniversary anthology, Curbside Publishing, 2016)
* Short Story Fellow at 2015 Midwest Writer’s Guild and the Colgate Writer’s Conference
* Gerald’s Exit (Mud Pies novel excerpt), Hairtrigger 32 Journal (2010)
* Catch 22, Run Away (2012) and We Don’t All Dance (2013), BAC Street Journal
* Beverly Arts Center Writer’s Editorial Board (2012- present)
* Co-founded FLOW (For the Love of Writing) and West Side Writer’s Guild
*Ragdale Residency (fall 2003) (summer 2014)
*Two-time CAAP’s (Chicago Arts Assistance Program) recipient
*Reunion, West Side Writers Guild Legacy Anthology
*Edited This Mother’s Daughter by Nelvia Brady
*Reviewed The Girls on 16thStreet by Lucille Freeman
* A Face Only A Mother Could Love, Steamticket, University of Wisconsin journal.
* Have written articles for major publications, like Chicago Tribune, Citizen, Crain’s Chicago Business, Upscale Magazine, and Chicago Parent.
* Publishing Consultant, Pearson (2014)
* Publishing Consultant, Pearson (2013)
"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." —-Alice in Wonderland
Tina Bell reads a black tragic comedy, How to Sing a Song Without Knowing the Words, at the Frunchroom before an audience of 150 people.
Readings, Workshops, Speaking Engagements
2019
*Using Technology to Promote the Writing Process, Logan Center for the Arts, January 12
*Reading, “Purpose, Afro-Futurism, Sci-Fi and Magical Realism, Bookies-FLOW Reading Series, March 10
*Martha’s Vineyard Writer’s Residency, March 23-April 5
*Co-facilitated Publishing Seminar at South Holland Library, April 13
*Reading, “Devil’s Alley” Mother’s Day, Bookies-FLOW Reading Series, May 10
* Reading, “To the Moon and Back” Sci-Fi reading as a part of Hypertext Review Journal spring debut and reading at Volumes Bookstore, July 18
* Cut the Baby in Half staged reading at the Greenline Theater, 329 East Garfield Blvd. on August 4, 2019.
* Reading, Female Reparations, Woman Made Gallery, August 18
* Reading, “Looking for DuSable” People of Color in a Brave New World, Bookies-FLOW Reading Series, September 29
* Reading, “Devil’s Alley”, Us Against Alzheimers, Washington, DC, October 15
* Workshop facilitator, Writing Queries and Grantwriting for Artists, Logan Center for the Arts, FLOW’s All Day Workshop Series, October 19
* Indignant Women Dramatic Reading Series: Conversations Between Gwendolyn Brooks and Lorraine Hansberry, Chicago Humanities Festival, October 27
Indig
2018
* Rising Star Judge for Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association Writer’s Competition, 2018, 2019
* Emcee Mama Love, Bookies-FLOW Reading Series, May 2018
* They Said reading for Danny’s Reading Series, June 2018
* They Said reading at Volume’s Book Store, August, 2018
* Reading, “You Cut My Toe” The Myth of the Angry Black Woman, Bookies-FLOW Reading Series, September 16
* Workshop facilitator for Query Writing Workshop at University of Chicago, Logan Center for the Arts, September 22
*They Said reading at Woman Made Gallery, October 14, 2018
§Emcee for Healthcare Horror Stories, October 18, 2018
Longwood Writers/Tall Grass Reading Series at Beverly Area Planning, December 2018
2017
* The Last Supper, Revise the Psalm Reading Series, Jan-May 2017.
* Author Afternoons @ Beverly Arts Center; Old Black Magic Reading and Book Fair; Seminary Coop, Words by Friends, The Book Cellar.
* Constant Struggle artist-writer collaboration and response to “On the Table” discussion series (funded by Chicago Community Trust) and reading, May 18, 2017.
* West Side Writer’s Guild reunion discussion and Q&A at Jane Adams Hull House, July 2017
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* Longwood Writers/Tall Grass Reading Series at Beverly-Chicago Public Library, “Letting Go” in December 2017
WORKSHOPS/PERFORMANCES 2016
§ Lessons from Eleanor, creative nonfiction, Words with Friends reading series, March 2016.
§ Writer’s Block Panelist and How to Attract an Agent workshop, May 2016/October 2016.
§ A Face Only a Mother Could Love/Other Short Prose, Words with Friends reading Series, Sept ’16.
§ Two Moms, Two Sons, One Prayer, short story, VocL: Colored People’s Reading Series, Oct. ’16.
§ Harassed, Creative Nonfiction, Tall Grass/Longwood Writers annual reading series, Nov. 2016.