Belinda Edwards is an African American writer and artist. She says she is from “the red earth of East Texas, where the peanuts grow dreaming of winter harvest; and blacksmiths, farmers, teachers, and janitors with strong backs and quick wit toil.” Originally from La Marque, Texas, a small segregated community, she developed a sense of being an “Other.” This shows in her writing, which emphasizes how important it is for women to embrace their uniqueness and find their inner gifts.
Belinda currently works at Los Alamos National Laboratory while she continues her creative endeavors. These include writing, visual art, and a community creative programs organizer. Her art has been in many exhibits in Santa Fe, including several artist collaborations. In 2011, with Santa Fe Arts Commission support, she organized the “Mining the Unconscious” exhibit and accompanying series of lectures, panel discussions, and workshops. This was an extraordinary community-based event which stirred the collective imagination of the Santa Fe community. Her most recent accomplishments were having her Haiku selected by Miriam Sagan for the Haiku Pathway at Santa Fe Community College and chapters of her novel selected by Margaret Wrinkle to be workshopped at the Writing and Spirit writing workshop also in Santa Fe.
Belinda strives to combine images with words. Her artist and writer friends see her art as narrative and her writing as painterly, signaling that the visual and the written have joined in a sacred marriage.
Belinda holds a M.A. degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is currently an apprentice in the Medicine Storyteller and Bone Throwing lineage of Ka Ta See, an ancient Peruvian shamanic practice. She lives in Santa Fe, NM, with her husband, her red 1979 Ford truck, and spirit wolf “Midnight.” She is currently working on a novel.