Poet, Writer and Somatic Practitioner adria moses
This week’s Writer Wednesday features adria moses of Detroit!
Adria is poet, writer and somatic practitioner, and the founder of the School of Radical Healing. Her debut poetry collection, “Towards What Hurt: a ceremony in poems,” is out September 2026 through Radical Healing Press, the imprint she built to publish it.
“I wrote and self-published it while recovering from major surgery this year, which taught me a lot about what it means to make something while your body is asking for your full attention,” she says.
Outside of writing she teaches and plays chess. She is the daughter of a painter and painted her own book cover!
Adria will read from her book at our next Pen & Persistence meetup on Sept. 15 at Michigan Central. Join us at the event!
What writing projects are you currently working on?
My poetry collection, “Towards What Hurt,” debuts this September, and the past couple of months have been full. This project has taken years to come to fruition. From the cover to the interior to the writing, it is my heart in 102 pages. It's available now at adriamoses.com, and I'm holding a public launch at the Detroit Public Library on Sept. 23. I'm meditating on 2027, but the book will have a small tour and a life after its debut that I intend to be fully in before I begin spending time on the next project.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Free writing. It's taken time to get comfortable with it in my adulthood, but when I was younger, I didn't overthink as much. I commit 1 to 3 hours a week to just free writing, and spending time going back in and editing. Allowing my natural voice and how the initial ideas are flowing to come out without judgment, and then going back in as many times as needed to clean up whatever mess I made. Or maybe I find I'm too contained, or repetitive, etc.
What does your writing workspace look like?
I sit on the floor. On yoga bolsters, with my computer typically perched on my coffee table. I enjoy feeling grounded. I find that I am more moved when rooted. Around me is art, and my books are color coded. It's quiet, and natural light shines in.
When did you first discover your love for writing? Were there any key moments or influences that sparked your passion?
I've been writing since I was about nine. It started as the place I could put things that didn't have anywhere else to go, and it never stopped being that. The thread through my life has been that writing kept me, through illness, through survival, through every season. It went from something I did on the side to the thing I do nearly every day. The turn was realizing, as an adult, that I was allowed to call myself a writer, that it wasn't something someone else had to grant me.
What is your favorite non-writing hobby?
I play chess in my free time. It's this concentrated, fun, challenging, learning experience, and it requires me to flex a different part of my brain.
What is your favorite piece of writing advice?
I think it's important to bend the rules. I, like many, have a voice produced by an environment less connected to academia. Intuitive writers are all around us, writing from a deep knowing. I believe in writing in a way that speaks to the human experience, not the rubric around it. No one can grade you on your gift.
FLASH QUESTIONS
Favorite book: “Axioms for Survivors” by Lon G. Nungesser
Favorite author: Octavia Butler
Favorite writing snack: Popcorn
I can't write without: Walking. My walks inspire me. They give me color, smell, different sights to take in, the weather, the people, the environment, all of it.
If I could have coffee with any writer (dead or alive), it would be: This is too tough! Nikki Giovanni, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou.
Follow Adria on Instagram at @adriamoses