Freda Epum (she/her)

Jason Garrett

Freda Epum is a Nigerian American writer and artist. She is the author of "The Gloomy Girl Variety Show," and two chapbooks, "Input/Output" and "Entryways into memories that might assemble me," which won the Iron Horse Literary Review Chapbook competition. She is the co-creator of the Black American Tree Project.  Epum's work has been published in The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Entropy, Bending Genres and others. She recieved her MFA from Miami University, Ohio. Originally from Tucson, she now lives in Cincinnati.  

Visit website |

Awards: Ironhorse Literary Review Chapbook Prize

Communities: Arizona Author, Tucsonan, LGBTQ+, African American, Person with a Disability, Child of Immigrants

Where Do I Belong?

Belonging can go beyond DNA. Explore identity through a lens of family ties and bonds, and examine unconventional ideas of connection that bind us together.

Student Union Kachina (Seats 100)  
Sat, Mar 15, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - UA Campus Store Tent (on Mall) (following presentation)  

Panelists: Freda Epum, David Martinez, Oliver Radclyffe
Moderator: Penelope Starr

Exposing Family Secrets

At the intersection of mental and chronic illness in families is a desire to hide them from view. Each of our authors has experienced these issues in her own unique way and, in voices that sometimes rely on humor, will share how healing can come from exposing secrets.

Student Union Kachina (Seats 100)  
Sun, Mar 16, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - UA Campus Store Tent (on Mall) (following presentation)  

Panelists: Freda Epum, Julie Fingersh, Sarah LaBrie
Moderator: Janice Brundage

Book:

The Gloomy Girl Variety Show

A Memoir of Ailments, Apartments, and African (American) Womanhood
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Feminist Press
January 2025
ISBN 9781558613102
224 pages