Every person living with HIV has a story to tell.

A Message From Our Executive Director

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About Write It Out!

Founded by award-winning Poz playwright and advocate Donja R. Love in 2019, Write It Out! (WIO!) uses art, advocacy, and accessibility to provide a space for people living with HIV and AIDS to tell their stories. Holistically, WIO! uses the power of imagination and healing to help shed the shame of living with HIV and combat stigma. Artistically, through writing initiatives, WIO! strengthens participants’ artistic voices and works to transform society and the theatrical landscape into a more equitable and stigma-free space for people living with HIV and AIDS.

Write It Out! is made possible through support:

About

Offerings

WIO! Offerings

The Program

The Program consists of free virtual writing workshops for a diverse group of adults (18+) from across the country living with HIV. The workshops are 5-6:30pm EST on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September 19th - December 1st. Anyone can apply; the only requirement is applicants must live with HIV. Participants are selected from an open, barrier-free application process. Participants learn the craft of playwriting and discuss literary work about and by people living with HIV. Then, participants create their own short-form play, which includes a rigorous rewriting process after group discussions. This prepares each participant and their work for a rehearsal process with professional directors and actors. The program culminates in an in-person final sharing (public reading) of each participant's work on World AIDS Day in NYC.

Applications Closed

The Retreat

This initiative promotes wellness by offering an artistic Spring/Summer retreat for WIO! alums living with HIV to recharge and imagine. Through a barrier-free application process that asks WIO! alums what literary projects they'd like to work on, housing and transportation are provided for the week-long Retreat, which will occur at Dwarfskill Preserve (Milford, PA), a six-hundred-acre property owned by POZ Magazine and Sero Project co-founder Sean Strub. The Retreat operates as a pathway for people living with HIV to creatively imagine while in a serene environment that promotes mental wellness.

The Incubator

Launched one year after the program and supported by Billy Porter, The Incubator is a groundbreaking initiative that supports a playwright living with HIV. Selected from an open application process requiring a statement of intent and a full-length play for review, the Incubator's recipient is partnered with a dramaturg for one year to help them skillfully develop a new full-length play. The process culminates with the recipient working with a professional director and actors to stage a public presentation of their work.

Applications Reopen July 2026

Our Community

63%

alum identify as

people of the global majority

45%

alum identify as

women/trans/non-binary

28%

alum are over the age

50 years old

Testimonials

“I thought the prize for being named the winner of the inaugural recipient of the Write It Out! prize was going to be the stipend, but the real prize ended up being freedom. After receiving the prize, coming out publicly about my HIV status not only liberated me as an artist but as a spirit on this earth.”

2021 WIO! Incubator Recipient

Dominic Colón