Lydia Y. Nichols worked on a speculative dark comedy stage play titled Don’t Look Away, set at the turn of the 22nd century in a post-reparations Gulf South, following a climate event that results in the disappearance of New Orleans. Lydia Y. Nichols is a writer native to New Orleans. Her work considers the lived experience and historical imaginary of race and the ways in which they impact our ecology as expressed in vernacular culture, the arts, and social justice movements. Lydia’s essays have been published in 64 Parishes, theGrio.com, Pelican Bomb, Tribes Magazine, Signals Magazine, and on her personal blog Modern Maroon. She is the Chief Cultural Columnist for the public interest news outlet Bayou Brief.

Headshot by Christine “Cfreedom” Brown