
Clinnesha Sibley, a native of McComb, Mississippi, is a published author, community leader, and educator. She promotes creative-mindedness—believing that visual, performing, and literary arts can change the way we think about some of life’s most important questions.
A writer of plays, blogs, poetry, prose, essays and creative non-fiction, Clinnesha has received numerous honors including the Holland New Voices Award, the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, Mississippi Theatre Association Adult Playwriting Award, A.I.M. Award for Creative Writing, and a 2021 Vance Fellowship from the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration. Her work has appeared on national theatre stages and in national literary journals, anthologies/ publications including Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, HerStry, Poetry South, The Maine Review, Feels Blind Literary, Quince Magazine, In Full Color, Black Masks Magazine, and Muzzle Magazine. She has also authored numerous essays including ‘How to Survive Predominately White Academic Theatre: Cause a Disruptive Innovation’, published by Howlround in 2016; and “Remembering, Rewriting and Re-Imagining: An Afrocentric Approach to Directing New Work for the Theatre”, featured in Black Acting Methods and published by Routledge Books. She is also a blog contributor on TheWriteAddiction.com, where her “Serenity Sunday” beat goes live every week.
Clinnesha received her B.A. at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was a 2003 initiate into the Gamma Psi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and was the 2005-2006 Miss Tougaloo College. She received her Master of Fine Arts Degree (MFA) from the University of Arkansas (U of A) in Fayetteville, becoming the first African-American to earn such a degree from that institution. As both a student and an Assistant Professor at the U of A, Clinnesha was a diversity champion and a key woman educator in the arts. She proudly served the College of Charleston in South Carolina as an Assistant Professor of Playwriting where her mission was to empower students to cultivate their unique voice and write fearlessly, without limits. After teaching at the college/university level for seven years, she moved into secondary residential education. She has taught at The Historic Piney Woods School and is currently the Literary Arts Instructor at Mississippi School of the Arts.
Her plays have been called feminist, protest, political, southern, and circular. Her widely known works include Tell Martha Not to Moan, Naked: What Women and Their Bodies Represent to America, Bound by Blood, Search Team, Thorns, The Cleaning Ladies, Uprooted, and Love Be Like…— all of which have received national recognition by reputable organizations including Penumbra Theatre, TheatreSquared, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Kentucky Women Writers Conference, Fade to Black Reading Series, Blackboard Reading Series, Spark Creative Works, New Circle Theatre, New Stage Theatre, The Union For Contemporary Art, and NYCPlaywrights. She is also known for authoring numerous essays including “How to Survive Predominately White Academic Theatre: Cause a Disruptive Innovation”, published by Howlround in 2016; “Remembering, Rewriting and Re-Imagining: An Afrocentric Approach to Directing New Work for the Theatre”, featured in Black Acting Methods and published by Routledge Books, and ‘“I Am Speaking” and Why Black and Brown Voices Matter’, featured in the anthology 2020: The Year that Changed America alongside Nikki Giovanni. Her work breaks stereotypes in the American theatre and contributes authentic narratives about Mississippians, southerners, and Black women to the contemporary literary canon.
Clinnesha was selected as one of twenty-four change-makers across the United States for the 2017-2018 National Arts Strategies Creative Communities Fellow Program. This program was her springboard into the non-profit sector and social entrepreneurship. A 2019 recipient of a “Rise Grant” from Women on the Rise Network, she is the Executive-Artistic Director for the Southwest Mississippi Multiplex for Early Innovative Intervention Studies.
Clinnesha is married to her high school sweetheart, Keith Sibley, and they have three children: Kaylee, Karlee, and Keith Jr.
Tune in to http://www.TheWRITEaddiction.com weekly for Clinnesha’s Serenity Sundays.
SERENITY SUNDAYS QUICK JUMP INDEX (BY YEAR)
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022
BOOKS & CREATIVE WORKS BY CLINNESHA

Links to published works in online literary journals and magazines:
How To Survive Predominately White Academic Theatre: Cause A Disruptive Innovation
Clinnesha D. Sibley Life Writing
He Needed His Momma
Breonna’s Poem
A Matter of Being
Anthologies Featuring Clinnesha’s work:
Black Acting Methods (1st Edition) by Sharrell Luckett & Tia M. Shaffer
Play Reviews:
Denver Post Review of “Tell Martha Not to Moan”
Spark Creative Works Launches Women’s Playwriting Project
Interview: https://yourartsygirlpodcast.com/episodes/episode-60-clinnesha-d-sibley-s1!33ffd
Non-Profit Work: http://smmeiis.strikingly.com/
SERENITY SUNDAYS BLOG INDEX
2022
April 3, 2022 – Fear Not
March 6, 2022 – The Coming of Spring
February 6, 2022 – When COVID Hits Home
January 2, 2022 – Make Peace With Peas
2021
December 5, 2021 – The Last Christmas Tree
November 28, 2021 – You Only Get One Life
November 14, 2021 – Jericho Season
October 31, 2021 – Serenity Everyday
October 24, 2021 – Why I Cried At the P.O.
October 17, 2021 – Big Things & The Book My Mother Will Never Read…
October 10, 2021 – Send Book To Printing Press
September 19, 2021 – The Geology Of Men
September 12, 2021 – “I Refuse To Die With The Music Still In Me.”
September 5, 2021 – Contrary To What Beyoncé Says, I Did Not Wake Up Like This
August 22, 2021 – Serenity Everyday
August 1, 2021 – Walking Away
July 25, 2021 – Serenity Everyday
July 18, 2021 – Why Women Are Sleeping On Their Couches
July 11, 2021 – Total Balance
July 4, 2021 – From the Ground, Up
June 6, 2021 – The Podcast (Bonus Episode)
May 30, 2021 – The Podcast (Episode 5)
May 23, 2021 – The Podcast (Episode 4)
May 16, 2021 – The Podcast (Episode 3)
May 9, 2021 – The Podcast (Episode 2)
May 2, 2021 – The Podcast (Episode 1)
April 11, 2021 – Finding Mama, Finding Myself
March 21, 2021 – Before We Were Women, We Were Girls
March 14, 2021 – A Belly Story
March 7, 2021 – The Yellow Dress
February 28, 2021 – Spread The Love
February 21, 2021 – First Couple Vibes
February 14, 2021 – No, We Are Not A 90’s Black Rom Com
February 7, 2021 – Whoever Says Thank You, Wins
January 31, 2021 – May Nothing Go To Waste
January 24, 2021 – Dinosauria (Or Parental Burnout)
January 17, 2021 – In The Beyond Of It
January 10, 2021 – Doth My Eyes Deceive Me?
January 3, 2021 – Debris, Scars and Please Don’t Wake the Baby
2020
December 20, 2020 – Until The New Year…
December 6, 2020 – Getting Comfortable Again
November 29, 2020 – Exit Ahead
November 22, 2020 – No One Rides For Free
November 15, 2020 – To Be Pruned
November 8, 2020 – Safe (Young Me Speaks)
November 1, 2020 – Evidently, I Have Issues
October 25, 2020 – Radical For You
October 18, 2020 – Live From The Letters Festival
October 11, 2020 – “I Am Speaking” And Why Black and Brown Voices Matter
October 4, 2020 – Returning To Child-Like Vulnerability
September 27, 2020 – Breaonna’s Poem
September 20, 2020 – If I Ever Hurt You…
September 13, 2020 – Something’s Missing (Part 2)
September 6, 2020 – Something’s Missing (Part 1)
August 30, 2020 – They Were Right
August 23, 2020 – The Power of Manifestation
August 16, 2020 – Jada, Cardi, Meg, Kamala – And What Black Women Nee Most
August 9, 2020 – Low-Grade Depression
August 2, 2020 – Wholeness (And Why I Can’t Cry)
June 28, 2020 – The Family Edition
June 21, 2020 – The Family Edition (In Mourning)
June 14, 2020 – Lessons Learned From Marching
June 7, 2020 – Remember the Artist In Times Like These…
May 31, 2020 – He Needed His Momma
May 24, 2020 – Thoughts While Running
May 17, 2020 – Love Amid Crisis
May 10, 2020 – Balancing the Craze of Motherhood
May 3, 2020 – Hello 36
April 26, 2020 – Who Else Sucks At This?!
April 19, 2020 – New Mercies
April 12, 2020 – Light
April 5, 2020 – No Shelter For Me
March 29, 2020 – Safe, But Savage
March 22, 2020 – Homeschoolin’
March 15, 2020 – COVID-19 and the Hidden Blessing of Slowing Down
March 8, 2020 – Navigating Her
February 16, 2020 – This Is How I Do The Dishes
February 9, 2020 – Negligence
February 2, 2020 – How I Became A Butterfly
January 26, 2020 – Year of The Rat (Pt. 3)
January 19, 2020 – Year of the Rat (Pt. 2)
January 12, 2020 – Year of the Rat (Pt. 1)
January 5, 2020 – Cut It Off
2019
December 29, 2019 – Leave It Behind
December 22, 2019 – The Ultimate Sacrifice
December 8, 2019 – The Seed We Planted
November 24, 2019 – The Assignment
November 17, 2019 – At My Happiest
November 10, 2019 – Too Long (Thank You Omaha)
November 3, 2019 – My Relationship With Time
October 27, 2019 – Pieces Of Me
October 20, 2019 – Glowing Up
October 13, 2019 – Spinning With My Hands Up
October 6, 2019 – Baby Steps and Breakthroughs
September 22, 2019 – For Women Who Push Overloaded Carts
September 15, 2019 – Re-Thinking Happiness
September 8, 2019 – Unpacking (Part 3)
September 1, 2019 – Unpacking (Part 2)
August 18, 2019 – Unpacking (Part 1)
July 28, 2019 – How I Twisted My Ankle, Chasing Dreams
July 21, 2019 – Seven Eighths
July 14, 2019 – What Happened At The New Wildins?
July 7, 2019 – Sincerely, Your Mean Mom
June 30, 2019 – We Had No Idea
June 23, 2019 – Social Media and My Personal Terms of Use
June 16, 2019 – Ribeyes and Racism
June 2, 2019 – Ain’t No Serenity
May 26, 2019 – Living My Best Life As A Teacher?
May 19, 2019 – Don’t Always Write What You Know
May 12, 2019 – Absorbing, A Short Story
May 5, 2019 – 35 and Owning It
April 28, 2019 – Don’t Worry
April 21, 2019 – Teach the Children
April 14, 2019 – The Sacrifice
April 7, 2019 – Ask Me Anything
March 31, 2019 – Memories That Shaped Me
March 24, 2019 – What Happened To Her?
March 17, 2019 – Calm Down
March 10, 2019 – Women, Cups and Middle Spaces
March 3, 2019 – Nine Ways To Show Yourself Love And Master This Life
February 24, 2019 – Spring Is Like A Perhaps Hand
February 17, 2019 – Where I Come From
February 10, 2019 – Ten Years, Ten Lessons
February 3, 2019 – Take It
January 27, 2019 – Controversial Dumplings
January 20, 2019 – When The Limo Breaks Down
January 14, 2019 – Consider The Birds
2018
December 30, 2018 – Weight
December 23, 2018 – 3 Ways To Be Merry
December 16, 2018 – For the Weary
December 9, 2018 – For The Gifted
December 2, 2018 – From My Womb To The World
November 25, 2018 – What’s Hidden?
November 18, 2018 – Salsa Night!
November 11, 2018 – Find Your Cause
November 4, 2018 – Happy Home
October 28, 2018 – I Was Missing Something
October 21, 2018 – In The Belly Of A Whale
October 14, 2018 – Pillow Talk
October 7, 2018 – The Change Series, Part 5 (The Finale)
September 30, 2018 – The Change Series, Part 4
September 23, 2018 – The Change Series, Part 3
September 16, 2018 – The Change Series, Part 2
September 9, 2018 – The Change Series, Part 1
September 2, 2018 – Help
August 26, 2018 – Reclaiming Poetry
August 19, 2018 – Sometimes I Hide In My Kitchen
August 12, 2018 – Marriage, Through The Eyes Of Laundry
August 5, 2018 – I Cut My Hair. Here’s Way.
July 29, 2018 – Life, According To IHOP’s “Happy Pancake”
July 22, 2018 – Another Planet
July 15, 2018 – Through The Roof
July 8, 2018 – Tune Your Instrument
July 1, 2018 – My Journey Toward Healing
April 22, 2018 – Happy Mother’s Day
April 15, 2018 – The Passion Collection
April 8, 2018 – Three Kids
April 1, 2018 – A Fool For Love
March 25, 2018 – When the Children Lead
March 18, 2018 – Grace Over Grind
March 11, 2018 – For the Kids
March 4, 2018 – Picking Flowers
February 25, 2018 – Static
February 18, 2018 – Poetic Reflections
February 11, 2018 – Don’t Get It Twisted
February 4, 2018 – Yep, The Flue
January 28, 2018 – The Pre-Season Hype-Up
January 21, 2018 – M Is For Murder, Mississippi, and Miracle
January 14, 2018 – Fantasies of Me (And How I Got Free)
January 7, 2018 – On This Rainy Night
2017
December 31, 2017 – Don’t Die In the Winter
December 24, 2017 – Last Minute Shopping
December 17, 2017 – Mary Did You Know
December 10, 2017 – Snow
December 3, 2017 – Overjoyed
November 26, 2017 – For A Woman I Know
November 19, 2017 – Why We Need To Be Ungrateful
November 12, 2017 – 3 Simple Truths
November 5, 2017 – An Open Letter To My Younger Self
October 29, 2017 – Have You Been In A Funk?
October 15, 2017 – 6 Ways To Stay Close
October 8, 2017 – 10 Songs That Help Me Escape From Life
October 1, 2017 – News
September 24, 3017 – Stranger Fruit
September 17, 2017 – The Ninth Month
September 10, 2017 – Can I Be Honest?
September 3, 2017 – The Art of Shopping
August 27, 2017 – In Light of the Eclipse
August 20, 2017 – Bears
August 13, 2017 – Clarity
August 6, 2017 – How Internet-Free Classrooms Can Bring the Best Out of Students
July 30, 2017 – For Colored Girls Who Watch Insecure
July 23, 2017 – Chillin
July 16, 2017 – The Move That Saved Me
July 9, 2017 – What It Is
July 2, 2017 – Be The Canvas