Verse from the Village

Little Black Poetry Book serves as an insight to understand the world and all of its chaos from the perspective of a young black poet. Each poem is a raw and authentic response to the challenges of our own growing journeys; it is the unleashing of the words held on our tongues due to the dissevering of our agency. Little Black Poetry Book is the reclamation of the voice being strangled at the back of our throats, the fiery shouts into the abyss with no care for approval. Aiyana Sha’niel shows her maturation into adulthood, and through this text, expresses their truest belief: we reserve the right to our voices.

About the Author

Aiyana Sha’niel is a Black creative writer born and raised in Los Angeles, California that has been performing for over eight years, being a county youth representative of spoken word in various events. She is a 2021 graduate of the Community Literature Initiative program (CLI), and finished the program at 18 years old, with her own full body of work. Sha’niel signed with World Stage Press and released her first collection of poems, Little Black Poetry Book, on September 25th, 2022.