Baker Artist Portfolios

Jennifer N. Shannon (@ writerjns) has written and published a novel titled Silent Teardrops, two collections of poems, short stories and visual art, for the LOVE…Vol. 1 & 2 , and Time Travel, a poetry chapbook. Her poems, short stories, photography and creative nonfiction have been in exhibits, published in anthologies and featured in literary magazines such as Deep South, The Auburn Avenue, Yellow Arrow Journal and North Dakota Quarterly. Jennifer served as guest editor for Yellow Arrow Journal's spring 2024 issue, titled ELEVATE and her most recent short story was published in Callaloo's Transitions issue (Vol. 42, Number 4). 

The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) has awarded Jennifer with multiple grants including one to support her curation of a six-month artists exhibition, "Black Joy Is My Protest," which was showcased at Busboys and Poets in Baltimore (August 2022 - January 2023). She attended the Hurston/Wright Foundation Writers Weekend for Fiction in 2021, was a Poetry Fellow at The Watering Hole and a Baker Artist Award Finalist for Literary Arts in 2022. Jennifer was also selected as a 2023 MSAC Triennial Artist for Literary Arts by Gerry LaFemina.

Jennifer is currently a member of the Laurel Arts Council, she leads the communications efforts at a nonprofit in DC and is writing her second novel. Outside of her creative life, there's nothing more fulfilling than experiencing life with her husband and son. 

Find Jennifer's latest musings at Creative Communion on Substack—an offering of poems, stories, truths and more, by two middle-aged Black Women writers from the South, who are mothering Black sons.