Seattle City of Literature is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2026 Microgrants Program. This funding provides two organizations with $2,500 each and five individual literary artists with $1,000 each to support international literary endeavors in the city of Seattle.
The organizations selected are LitiArts and Mothers Impacting Lives Everyday (MILE)!
LitiArts’ grant will support the production of “Identity Journal Volume 2: Transnational & Immigrant & Multilingual Youth Voice,” a digital publication emerging from a series of storytelling and creative literacy workshops. Aligned with LitiArts’ mission to center the voices of BIPOC youth and foster global narratives of identity and diaspora, this project aims to promote cross-cultural understanding, amplify immigrant perspectives, and strengthen Seattle’s international artist community. It also aims to establish sustainable pathways for youth authorship and leadership in the long term.
MILE’s grant will go toward, “Letters to My Ancestors,” a cross-continental storytelling and healing project led by author and advocate Kechi Amaefule. A collaboration between MILE’s OvercomHerMentoring (Seattle) and Womb to World Care (Nigeria) programs, this initiative will connect 10 girls in King County and 10 girls in Owerri, Nigeria, through a five-week literary exchange exploring heritage, identity, and healing through the written word.
The individuals selected are: Catalina Marie Cantú, Vanessa Freije, Kriss Jackson-Harper, Julie Kang, and Shuxuan Zhou!
Catalina Marie Cantú will use the grant to support travel to Portugal where Cantú will teach two poetry classes at a retreat for women of Madeiran heritage, then travel to Óbidos, Portugal, a sister UNESCO City of Literature to meet and collaborate with Óbidos poets and writers. Cantú hopes to build multilingual bridges in Portuguese and English that explore and celebrate Madeiran and Portuguese gastronomy, handcrafts and sensory imagery in the natural world.
Vanessa Freije will undertake a major revision of “Dry Spells,” her literary novel set between Mexico City and the foothills of the stratovolcano, Popocatéptl. Freije plans to return to Amecameca, located two hours southeast of Mexico City, to conduct additional research on the book’s setting and context.
Kriss Jackson-Harper will use the grant to support The Posi Pos Media Lab: Trans Joy & Black Queer Survivor Storytelling Hub, a project that includes writing, digital storytelling, outreach, and community-facing materials centered on Black trans joy, Black queer survivor narratives, and international literary exchange with writers in Accra, Ghana.
Julie Kang’s project “Han: Stories Across the Pacific,” explores how bilingual and bicultural writers navigate the emotional and cultural landscapes between languages and homelands. The project will gather and amplify stories from writers in Seattle and partner city Seoul, through collaborative writing sessions, bilingual readings, and digital storytelling exchanges. Ultimately, “Han: Stories Across the Pacific” envisions Seattle as a bridge city: a place where bilingual voices are not only heard but celebrated as vital to the city’s international literary identity.
Shuxuan Zhou’s grant will support Zhou’s Chinese book tour in June 2026, celebrating the publication of《木头换来的人》(“The People Who Traded Wood For…”). Zhou’s tour in China will include a stop in Nanjing, a sister UNESCO City of Literature.《木头换来的人》(“The People Who Traded Wood For…”) presents 16 intertwined life histories across different political eras, based on oral histories with former workers in a sawmill where Zhou grew up.
About the Microgrant Recipients
Catalina Marie Cantú
Catalina Marie Cantú is a Madeiran/Chicana born in San Francisco, California. Before moving to Washington, she lived on the border in Brownsville, Texas, where the Cantú family has lived since it was México. Cantú is a multi-genre writer, arts instigator, Jack Straw Fellow, and Alum of VONA/Voices, and The Mineral School. Funding received from Artists’ Trust, Hugo House, Centrum, and Hedgebrook. Publications include La Bloga, Poetry on Buses, Seattle Poetic Grid and others. Her poems have been anthologized in On Resilience: Climate Adaptation Across Washington’s Lands; Winter in America (Again; Writing the Land: Foodways and Social Justice; In Xóchitl in Cuícatl: Floricanto Cien años de poesía chicanx/Latinx (1920-2020); and Take a Stand, Art Against Hate, A Raven Chronicles Anthology among others. Cantú is President/Co-Founder of La Sala and lives with her family on the unceded ancestral lands of the Duwamish people.
Vanessa Freije
Vanessa Freije is a writer and an award-winning historian working across multiple genres, including fiction, journalism, and memoir. Her reporting and essays have appeared in Al Jazeera, Atlas Obscura, Public Books, Tahoma Literary Review and elsewhere. In 2020, she published Citizens of Scandal: Journalists, Secrecy, and the Politics of Reckoning in Mexico (Duke University Press), a history of political scandals during the waning years of one-party rule. She currently is writing her debut novel, which is informed by her fifteen years living and researching in central Mexico. Her research and writing have received support from Artist Trust, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright-García Robles, and the Roundhouse Foundation, among other organizations. She is associate professor of International Studies and History at the University of Washington, where she chairs the program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Kriss Jackson-Harper
Kriss Jackson-Harper (they/he) is a Black, queer, trans, and HIV-positive artist, writer, and educator. Born HIV+ and raised navigating systemic barriers, Kriss transforms lived experience into creative activism—centering disability justice, consent-forward storytelling, and Black queer resilience.
They are the founder of The Posi Pos Media Lab, a storytelling and education hub amplifying voices of survivors and disabled artists through poetry, multimedia, and digital publishing. Over the past 15 years, Kriss has led more than 180 workshops and performances across arts, education, and advocacy spaces, blending trauma-informed facilitation with joy-centered creative practice.
Their current projects include From Pain to Power—a poetry chapbook and digital series exploring healing and visibility—and The Seattle–Ghana Accra Literary Bridge, an international exchange connecting writers across continents through shared stories of resilience.
Julie Kang
Julie Kang is a bilingual Korean American writer and educator based in Seattle. Her work explores themes of identity, belonging, and intergenerational memory across cultures. Drawing from her experiences working with marginalized and immigrant communities, Julie writes essays and reflective narratives that bridge Korean and American perspectives. She is currently developing an international project that connects Korean diaspora voices through storytelling, fostering dialogue between Seattle and Seoul. Her writing seeks to amplify the lived experiences of bilingual and bicultural individuals while nurturing global understanding through shared narratives.
Shuxuan Zhou
Shuxuan Zhou (she/they) is a multifaceted writer, researcher, and organizer bridging the Chinese- and English-speaking worlds. Their nonfiction work delves into the intricate dimensions of women’s and migrants’ labor, exploring themes such as navigating liminal spaces, (re)building homes, queering desires, and striving for personal and collective dreams. Shuxuan approaches these stories with a focus on plurality and relationality.
They are the author of From Forest Farm to Sawmill: Stories of Labor, Gender, and the Chinese State (University of Washington Press). Their essay “The Posthumous Child” won the Grand Prize in Sixth Tone’s Creative Nonfiction Contest, and their writing has appeared in Moss, Shoegaze Lit, and Seattle Globalist. Their work has been supported by 4Culture, Artist Trust, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Mineral Arts & Residencies, and Vashon Artist Residency.
LitiArts is a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides literacy, arts education, and mentorship to youth, supporting their identities and well-being. Through multimedia workshops, LitiArts develops literacy skills, builds confidence, and encourages creative risk-taking while exploring social justice themes. Their programs serve BIPOC youth aged 9–18, with a focus on African American, African, Latinx, and Southeast Asian communities from working-class backgrounds. Their programs are also inclusive of nonbinary and gender-expansive youth. Based in South Seattle, LitiArts connects schools, families, and communities, amplifying youth voices often excluded from mainstream narratives. Through projects like “The Identity Journal,” they use art as a tool for healing, connection, and self-definition.
Mothers Impacting Lives Every day (MILE) is a King County based nonprofit empowering BIPOC girls, women, and mothers through healing-centered mentorship, education, and self-development. Founded by author and advocate Kechi Amaefule, MILE provides trauma-informed programs that build confidence, leadership, and resilience. Their core initiatives (OvercomHer Mentoring, Parents Place, and Womb to World Care- Nigeria) serve communities locally and abroad through workshops, cohorts, and outreach centered on wellness, identity, and empowerment. Since receiving 501(c)(3) status in 2024, MILE has mentored 56 young women in King County, supported struggling mothers in partnership with King County, sponsored the education of 20 youth in Nigeria, and provided food and school supplies to over 300 children living in impoverished villages in Imo State, Nigeria.
Project Supporters
Thank you to 4Culture, ArtsFund, the Amazon Literary Partnership, ArtsFund, and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
for their support of this program.
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