Richiena Dineo
Richiena Dineo is an Afro-Indigenous healer, writer and organizer. Her roots are also distinctly North Philadelphian as her grandmothers and grandfathers settled in North Philly during the early years of The Great Migration. The characters in her prose are often inhabited by these rich identities, paying homage to ancestral lands and centering the minoritized experiences of Black, LGBT and Trans folx, in particular. In her healing and community practices, Richiena specializes in trauma-focused healing, narrative expansion, uplifting subjugated stories of joy, strength and resilience, anti-displacement and community reclamation actions, and BIPOC and LGBT+ youth leadership development. Richiena describes her work as African diasporic root work, which relies on African-centered knowledge bases and radical imagination to individually and collectively decolonize and liberate our physical and psychic inner cities.
Awarded Grants
2026
Window of Opportunity Grant (WOO)
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Overview
Richiena Dineo has been accepted into the Neraki Writers Workshop, a nine-day residency taking place June 5-14, 2026 in Katigiorgis, Greece, offering dedicated time for writing, mentorship, and creative community-building among a small cohort of emerging and established writers. The program includes workshops, individual faculty guidance, shared meals, and space for rest and wellness practices in a coastal natural setting, supporting both artistic development and sustained reflection. Richiena will use this time to advance her ongoing writing practice centered on “narrative warfare” and narrative reclamation as pathways toward personal and collective transformation. The WOO grant will support Richiena with the residency fee and airfare.
2022
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
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Overview
Richiena Brown's "Sankofa Suitcase Project" is an anti-gentrification action that will provide collaborative spaces where longtime residents of North Philly/Hub 13 can share their personal histories and connection to their neighborhood using journey as metaphor. In addition to archiving community histories, the action will reclaim space and engage the community with reimagined partnerships, beautification, and a community festival.