Tonya Abari is a multigenre storyteller — independent journalist, author, essayist, freelance editor, and reviewer for children and adults. A former high school English teacher, Abari facilitated National Endowment of the Humanities-funded workshops providing educators with tools and resources to facilitate inclusive instruction of Black literature within ELA and social studies curriculum. After leaving the traditional classroom setting, Tonya became a traveling set teacher, administering instruction to child entertainers while on television and film productions. She’s taught students on the set of HBO’s The Wire, The Lion King, The Color Purple, Next to Normal, and The Radio City Music Spectacular.
Abari’s work as an educator provided a seamless transition to writing and editing professionally and consulting across several fields including educational and book publishing, the federal government, and the non-profit sector. Abari writes for children and adults and is deeply passionate about writing as an expression of her lived experience as a Black woman and mother in the United States. Her intersectional interests often center or include: parenting; family/relationship dynamics; motherhood and maternal health; nature; diasporic music, Black culture and history; the craft of writing; personal wellness; food and travel; and work-from-home/freelancing life.
Abari’s writing has appeared in local and national publications such as the Nashville Scene, Chapter 16, Essence, USA Today, AARP, Parents, PBS Kids, AllRecipes, The Kitchn, and many more. As an author and author collaborator, Abari has published and forthcoming books with Mudpuppy, The Innovation Press, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Quarto, Wiley, Penguin Random House, and HarperCollins.
On the editorial side, notable projects include: research and copyediting for the U.S. Department of Labor’s grant-funded Trade and Development (TDA) reports on child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking; Cambridge University Press’ Education Reform Team curriculum redevelopment; and the U.S. Department of Education’s Digest of Education Statistics; and developmental editing, copyediting, and sensitivity review for various organizations, digital media platforms, and publishing houses.
Tonya is an active member, contributor, and teaching artist at PorchTN , where she leads the Nashville Black Storytellers — an affinity group dedicated to amplifying Black voices in and around Nashville through community, workshops, and local collaborations. She also frequently partners with the local birth worker community to inspire personal narratives for change as a part of her recently launched Feast Postpartum initiative.
Abari also has active memberships with Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA); Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI); and The Author’s Guild. She is a Carnegie Hall NeOn Arts Program participant for creative nonfiction and a Hurston Wright Foundation Writers Week creative nonfiction alum under the mentorship of Dr. Emily Bernard. Abari has volunteered as an NCTE Norman Mailer Creative Nonfiction, NJ Center for the Arts, and Baldwin Prize essay judge for her historic high school alma mater, Baltimore City College.
A graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, Abari currently resides and writes in Nashville, TN. In addition to her professional endeavors, Abari enjoys reading, food, discovering new places, music, spending time with her spouse, and homeschooling two free-spirited children.