This Precious Dark Skin

This Precious Dark Skin is for my black reader who encouraged me to create an online home for my black women essays. Thank you for emailing me, “Love for us is bursting off each thoughtful, intentional, sentence. I see myself in all of it; you see us, and that’s what matters. Keep writing, Sister.”

Hey there, I’m Banchi (everyone I know calls me Banchi, except my dad who calls me by my full name – Banchiwosen, and my beloved brother who calls me Mimi). I’m a black woman, a teacher, and a short fiction and nonfiction writer.

I’ve published 400+ posts and essays on my blog, Banchi Inspirations, since mid-2018.

I’m an Ethiopian. A few months after I started publishing here, I received an email from Jennifer, a white reader, who read my article, Buna Ceremony In Ethiopia. Jennifer has made a plan to visit Ethiopia, to witness the coffee ceremony in person. After reading her email, warmth moved through me like a swig of hot tea. I have sent essays about the unique culture of Ethiopia to online magazines, but I haven’t heard back from any one of them. But the beauty of substack: I can write about Ethiopia the rest of the world does not know and even make an impact. I get that not everyone wants to read something unique about Ethiopia. But some readers, like Jennifer, do. One reader who takes action, even as bold as deciding to visit Ethiopia for the first time, after reading your words, that’s what matters.

It’s everything.

Whether you subscribe to read my personal essays or short fiction or curated reads or about Ethiopia, what I can promise you is I pen my words into a format that is compelling and memorable before I publish.

If you need a place to start:

Personal Essays:

• 'I've Selected a Wife for You,' My Grandfather Was Told. He Married Her Sister.

• 'I Wish My Children Were Still Living Inside My Uterus,'

• Empty Platitudes

• How I Learned To Avoid Storytelling That Is “Performative for a White Readership”

• One Die-Hard Reader's All-Time Favorite Narratively Stories

Short Fiction:

• When the Shooting Stops

• When Your White Bosses Are Not That Into You

• How to Talk to Someone Who’s Obsessed With the Color of Your Skin

• Adera

Ethiopia:

• Buna Ceremony In Ethiopia

If you’d like to share any thoughts or say hello, send a message over to bandaxen@gmail.com. I read every email and will get back to you within a few days.

P.S. Readers like you support This Precious Dark Skin. If you love reading my words, become a paying subscriber to get access to subscriber-only content.

Thank you for reading my words. I love writing, and you make it possible for me to continue writing. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

May you love the skin you’re born with

Banchi