Darina Mayfield
is a writer and graduate of the University of Washington's creative writing program, an alumna of the Kenyon Review Writing Workshop, and a Roots. Wounds. Words. Storyteller of Color Fellow (Winter '24) and Writer-in-Residence (Fall '24).
Her work has been published by the Urban Design Forum and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, where she is a regular contributor.
Currently, Darina is working on her debut memoir where she testifies to the harsh truths of standing in the space between grief and transformation after loss.
Upcoming Residency
Roots. Wounds. Words. has invited Darina as a writer-in-residence to journey to a sacred space in the Blue Ridge Mountains where she will workshop her literary art, perform her work, participate in BIPOC-centered healing and liberation modalities, as well as receive literary arts pedagogy from renowned BIPOC storytellers.
Past Fellowships & Workshops
2024 Roots. Wounds. Words. Storyteller of Color Fellow
2024 Kenyon Review Workshop Participant
The Kenyon Review is an international journal of literature, culture, and the arts. Since its founding in 1939, it has evolved from a distinguished literary magazine into a nonprofit arts organization. The Kenyon Review is devoted to nurturing, publishing, and celebrating the best writing from around the world.
Darina studied with authors Davon Loeb, Rebecca McClanahan, and Amy Wright.
The Roots. Wounds. Words. Retreat for Storytellers of Color is a sacred space wherein BIPOC stories are celebrated, and BIPOC storytellers immersed in liberation. At the Writers’ Retreat, Storytellers received literary arts instruction offered by award-winning BIPOC writers in the fields of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, speculative fiction, writing wellness for Us, and young adult fiction.
Darina studied with authors Putsata Reang, Rivers Solomon, Fariha Roisin, Paul Tran, Dawnie Walton, C.L. Clark, and Jenny Torres Sanchez.
2020 Urban Design Forefront Fellow
Each year the Urban Design Forum selects a diverse cohort of emerging leaders in urban design, development, policy, and advocacy to investigate how design can address a social or political challenge facing New York City. In 2020, an interdisciplinary cohort explored how to support minority- and women-owned businesses through climate investment and advance new ideas on the role of urban design in a just economic recovery.
Cooperative Works: Equitable Business Development for Building Retrofits
Co-authored by Darina Mayfield
Report exploring how to deepen New York City’s climate commitments through investment in minority-owned businesses and workers of color.