Cherise Morris

Cherise Morris is an award-winning writer, interdisciplinary artist, ritualist and spiritual worker born and raised in rural Virginia, living in Detroit, Michigan. Her interdisciplinary performance work and writing has been supported by several regional and national organizations and has received funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Poets & Writers, and The Knight Foundation. 

Merging experimental writing, poetry and prayer with performance, movement, sound and ritual practices, Morris’ work creates transformative spaces that invite communities to explore, imagine and continue the infinite work of individual healing and collective transformation. Her writing has previously appeared in The Iowa Review, Longreads, Black Warrior Review, Truthout and elsewhere. Her essays have twice been recognized as notable works of literary nonfiction in The Best American Essays Series 2018 and 2019 and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is a 2019 Kresge Fellow. She is the winner of the 2024 Global Black Women’s Nonfiction Manuscript Prize and her debut book, the cosmic matter of Black lives, is forthcoming.