Fire in the Spirit
Her book of poetry — recently completed. A collection born from decades of listening, teaching, and living.
Available on Amazon & Kindle
The Life & Legacy ofAbena
Abena
Disroe
Poet. Producer. Events planner. Teacher of healing. A voice that gathers voices — from 5 to 95.
Coming Up →25+
Years of Service
2
Published Works
5–95
Generations Connected
∞
Voices Uplifted
A Living History
"Her vision matched with her passion — to connect the voices of all generational age groups, known and unknown."
For over two decades, Abena Disroe has stood at the intersection of poetry, television, education, and community repair — producing the D.C. series S.E.E.D.S., leading poetry-as-therapy workshops with cancer patients and elders, and sitting in restorative circles with young people the world had written off.
Explore the Archive →Bio
A student of the world.
Making the choice to go back to school and keep learning, Abena graduated from George Washington University School of Business and Public Management as a Certified Events Management Planner (C.E.M.P.) in August 1999.
Prior to that, she completed her undergraduate work at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications (Radio and Television). During those years she spent meaningful time with celebrated civil rights activist Mr. James Meredith, and with his mother in Kosciusko, Mississippi — an early education in courage, history, and the weight of testimony.
Activism
Circles of restoration.
Abena's activism has always been hands-on. She worked with incarcerated youth through Balanced and Restorative Justice Community Circle Training — a summer that rippled far beyond it — sitting with young people the world had written off and helping them find the language for their own becoming.
Her early years alongside Mr. James Meredith and his mother in Mississippi shaped a lifelong commitment to justice, memory, and community repair.
Speaker
Poetry as medicine.
Abena has led speaking engagements and poetry workshops with senior citizen wellness centers, and with cancer patients at Howard University Hospital — using poetry as therapy through a guided process that allows mental and emotional healing to take place.
Words, in her hands, become a way of tending to what hurts.
Performances
S.E.E.D.S. — voices on the air.
Washington, D.C. had the privilege of enjoying a television show produced and hosted by Abena called The Soulful Expressive Empowerment Diversity Spoken-Word (S.E.E.D.S.).
It was there that her vision met her passion — to connect the voices of all generational age groups, from 5 to 95, known and unknown. Poets, elders, children, activists: each given a microphone and a moment.
Events
Gathering the community.
The 2026 Paul Robeson Peace & Justice Awards Gala is a celebration that brings together the DC community around shared struggles.
The DC Friends of People's World and the Claudia Jones School for Political Education will be organizing a community gathering to celebrate and honor a local leader with the Paul Robeson Peace & Justice Award. The award was last given to local labor leader and former president of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, Joslyn Williams.
November 7, 2026 · 5–8 PM
Thurgood Marshall Center
1816 12th St. NW, Washington, DC
Published Works
Words she has set into the world.
Making It Happen
Written and edited by Abena — published by Hopkins. A testament to turning intention into action.
Author & Editor
Organizations
Where her work has lived.
S.E.E.D.S. Television Show
Producer & host — Washington, D.C.
Howard University Hospital
Poetry-as-therapy workshops with cancer patients.
Senior Citizen Wellness Centers
Ongoing poetry & wellness workshops.
Balanced & Restorative Justice Community Circles
Facilitator — training with incarcerated youth.
Certificates
Credentials & study.
Certified Events Management Planner (C.E.M.P.)
George Washington University School of Business and Public Management · August 1999
B.S., Mass Communications (Radio & Television)
Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi
Balanced & Restorative Justice Community Circle Training
Facilitator training — summer program with incarcerated youth
Reflections
Fire in the Spirit
Essay • 2024
A collection born from decades of listening, teaching, and living — poems that carry the weight of testimony and the lightness of release.
Poetry as Therapy
Workshop • Ongoing
Notes from a guided process used with cancer patients and elders, where the page becomes a place to set down what the body has been carrying alone.
The Circle
Field notes • One summer
What she learned sitting with incarcerated youth in Balanced & Restorative Justice Community Circles — and what they taught her in return.