Awards and Fellowships:
Haymarket Writing Freedom Fellow, 2024
The Writing Freedom Fellowship awards talented emerging and established poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers affected by carceral systems for their notable and necessary writing. Developed and administered by Haymarket Books in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and the Art for Justice Fund, Writing Freedom aims to recognize, support, and amplify the essential literary voices and contributions of those directly affected by the criminal legal system.
Edward R. Murrow Award - Small Digital Organization - Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, 2024 (recognized for In solitary confinement, banned books are a lifeline, contribution to The Emancipator’s 2023 Prison Banned Books Week Series)
Solitary Watch Ridgeway Reporting Award, 2023
USC National Systems-Impacted Writers Contest, Notable Entry, 2023
Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize, 2022 (recognized for Working in Prison Fields Didn’t “Correct” Me, It Revealed the System’s Brutality)
Board Member:
The Menopause Project (Impact Justice), 2025 - Present
The Menopause Project is focused on equipping women experiencing menopause behind bars with the resources they need for the dignity they deserve. Kwaneta has written and spoken about experiencing (peri)menopause while incarcerated for platforms such as In These Times, Prison Health News, and Peri-Tales. In her role as a board member, she contributes her firsthand knowledge about the lack of resources and support for incarcerated women experiencing (peri)menopause.
Prison Health News, 2024 - Present
Prison Health News is a print newsletter read by 5,000 incarcerated people across the United States. As a board member, Kwaneta is using her insight as a former nurse as well as her experience with carceral healthcare to expand Prison Health News’ audience and make it more gender-inclusive. She has also published several stories with the publication.
Founding Board Member, Center on Gender and Extreme Sentencing, 2023 - Present
As a founding board member, Kwaneta is advising on the development and fundraising strategy of the new organization, which strives to create a world where extreme sentencing is replaced with justice practices centered on restoration and healing instead of retribution and punishment.
Speaking Engagements:
Kwaneta is a subject matter expert who has spoken extensively about prison journalism and censorship, the criminalization of survivors, and abolition feminism. She has accepted invitations to speak from Yale University, University of Washington, Unitarian Universalist Church, Project NIA, and Haymarket Books.