University Writing Program > Lisa E. Wright
Lisa E. Wright

Lisa E. Wright

Lecturer

Contact Information

Lisa E. Wright is a Lecturer in the University Writing Program. Her research interests and courses center on Black maternal health, with a particular focus on Black midwives. 

Wright is working on a manuscript “The Ring of Fire: A Memoir” which chronicles her home births with her midhusband. It further examines Black women’s birthing choices, with a particular focus on the delegitimation of Black midwives, and on creating safe birthing spaces inside, and outside medical institutions. She was the recipient of the 2022 Women’s Faculty Council Student Research Award at Oklahoma State University, the 2022 Geneva Smitherman Award for Research in Black Language, Literacies, Cultures, and Rhetorics, and the 2024 Mu Psi Student Chapter Faculty and Staff Leadership Award at Johns Hopkins University. 

Prior to joining Hopkins, Wright co-founded the Talking Justice Project, an interactive workshop that teaches antiracist strategies for writing center consultants and teachers. Using antiracist pedagogy and inclusive writing center pedagogy, they provided attendees with strategies to address problematic ideas while also maintaining a learning environment. Her current project intersects faith and religious identities in our writing spaces. The co-edited collection The Politics of Faith and Secularism in Writing Centers and Writing Studies is under review at Utah State University Press.

Wright was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds a B.A. in English from Coppin State University and an M.A. from The Ohio State University in African and African American studies. Wright completed her doctoral work at Oklahoma State University in English, specializing in Creative Writing Nonfiction and Black feminist literature. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, College English, The Writing Center Journal, Praxis, Axis, and Hippocampus Magazine.

  • The Mothers of American Gynecology 
  • Birthing Justice: The African Diaspora
  • Decoding College Writing: Black Midwives and American Gynecology
  • Reintroduction to Writing: Writing and Black Birthing Women

Edited Books

  • The Politics of Faith and Secularism in Writing Centers and Writing Studies, Edited by: Hadi Banat, Andrea Efthymiou, Liliana Naydan, Anna Sicari, and Lisa E. Wright. Under Review with Utah State University Press.

Edited Journal Issue

Peer-Reviewed Articles in Journals

Essays in Books

  • “I Feel Most Black in my Hijab: Navigating Race and Faith in Writing Spaces,” in The Politics of Faith  and Secularism in Writing Centers and Writing Studies, Edited by: Hadi Banat, Andrea Efthymiou, Liliana Naydan, Anna Sicari, and Lisa Wright. Utah State University Press.  Under Review. 
  • “Stay Alive: A Black Mother’s Responsibility to Ride Griefs Hills and Live ” in Parenting while PhDing: Surviving and Improving the Working Conditions of Graduate Student Parents Edited Collection by Jenna Morton-Aiken and Jackie Hoermann-Elliott.  Under Review with Rutgers  University Press, Spring 2025. 
  • “Creative Writers Teach Techniques for Analyzing Any Text.” Who Teaches Writing? (Oklahoma State University Libraries), Co-authored with Natasha Tinsley, Fall, 2021. Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.22488/okstate.22.000003. 

Book Reviews

  • “Radical Writing Center Praxis: A Paradigm for Ethical Political Engagement.” The Writing Center Journal, with Dr. Anna Sicari, Fall, 2022. 39.½: 426-428. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27172235. 
  • Writing Studies
  • Black Maternal Health
  • Black Birthing Justice
  • Black Midwives
  • Creative Writing Nonfiction
  • AntiRacism
  • Writing Centers