Community Engagement and Social Justice
Literary arts, including poetry, creative writing, fiction and nonfiction
Live performance, including puppetry, theatre, dance, music, etc.
Pittsburgh Creative Corps Artist Directory
Najya Williams
Primary Discipline
Artistic Practice
Creative writing, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Spoken word / storytelling
Audio / sound recording
Sweet Tooth, 2023, spoken word.
Excerpt from “Clothes that Survived the Revolution.” Click on text to read the full story.
The Pulsing in Our Spirits and Our Blood, 2024.
Excerpt from “sunflower in the woods.” Click on text to read the full story.
MORE LIFE, 2020. A short film written and produced by Najya Williams, directed by Von Pitts, director of photography by Hakeem Angulu.
About the Artist
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Najya A. Williams, MD, G.Cert, is a resident physician, multidisciplinary artist and dreamer. Najya is devoted to the liberation and healing of all oppressed peoples. Her writing career has spanned more than ten years and produced three poetry collections, with her most recent collection, on a date with disappointment, published by Button Poetry in 2025. Her poetry, essays and other writings have been accepted and/or published by a number of organizations, including POETRY Magazine, Button Poetry, wildness journal, Viewless Wings, and Black Youth Project. Her TEDx Dilworth Park talk, “The Pulsing in Our Spirits and Our Blood,” is available for public viewing via the national conference website. Additionally, she has served as a literary educator and mentor for literary hubs including Catapult, midnight&indigo, PocketMFA and within higher education institutions, such as Harvard University, Temple University, and Johns Hopkins University.
Photo by Anudeeta Gautam
Web
Accreditations, Certifications, and/or Awards
Graduate Certificate in Narrative Medicine, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, 2025
Provides Fabrication Services to Other Artists
Yes
Teaching Artist
Yes, ages 18 and up
Joined the Directory
April 2026
Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
“Collaboration is an important opportunity for us to enrich each other with the intricacies of our lives and learned experiences. I never leave collaboration the same way that I enter it and I find that it contributes to an evolving and expanding practice.”
Najya Williams
Contact the Artist
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Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
