Roach, Christell Victoria

Christell Victoria Roach is a writer born and raised in Miami. She is an MFA candidate at the University of Miami studying poetry. She graduated from Emory University’s Class of 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing and African American studies. She writes the Blues of the Southern Tropics. Roach places her poetry in conversation with Black artists and scholars when she describes her writing as “critically fabulist wake-work rooted in the demonic,” after Saidiya Hartman, Christina Sharpe, and Katherine McKittrick, respectively. She is a poet and playwright, but sees research as comprehensive storytelling. Roach’s recent work has been published by the Academy of American Poets, Poetry Magazine, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Scalawag Magazine, The Miami Rail, and SWIMM Every Day. She is currently working on her first book of poetry, Bluesing.