niyafriday

Niya Friday is a Black queer Southern mixed media artist and writer interested in studying and preserving the interior lives of Black people across the diaspora. As part of this exploration, she runs a monthly zine service, mailing free zines that center her interior life as a way to foreground Black femme experiences in a world shaped by erasure. Niya earned a bachelor’s degree in African, African American, and Diaspora Studies with a minor in Environmental Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Library Science with a concentration in Archive Resource Management with her research exploring how speculative fiction can serve as a counterarchive for understanding the lived experiences of Black people.

SBG Bookclub

Creative Portfolio

The #SmartBrownGirl book club is widening space for the public to engage with research, theory, and history across a wide-range of backgrounds and knowledge bases. 

By pairing texts with historiographical components via reading guides/syllabi and hosting live online group discussions, we allow the public to participate in the type of dialogical reading typically confined within the gates of elite institutions. 

Located Online, Focused on the Black Girls in the Forgotten Spaces…

Creative Workshops

Upcoming:

  • SCOSAA Bookmark Zine workshop

  • SNCA Many Voices, Stronger Archives: Advocacy through Community- Zine Workshop

Sistories

SISTORIES is a queer black feminist/womanist storysharing organization that recognizes reflexive storytelling as an ancestral healing tool. We produce multimedia storysharing spaces for southern Black women to explore sites of recovery and resistance in our stories. By applying a Black feminist lens and creating healing spaces to share with each other, we work to transform the impact of oppressive systems on our bodies, spirits, and communities.

Issue IV-Pleasure Paths

Rooted in Toni Morrison's, Sula, and Audre Lorde's, Uses of the Erotic, Issue IV is a juicy collection of poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, visual art, and photography from southern-rooted Black women, femmes, and nonbinary people exploring the limitless experiences of Black pleasure and embodiment across the South. 

Flurry Zine

Flurry is a media platform uplifting artists, especially creatives of color, by creating a safe space for sharing and expression.

Dreams Issue

Return- Poem by Niya Friday

Girls Issue

Lights Out- Poem by Niya Friday

Designing Merchandise

Sticker Designs:

I worked with The Student Association of Black Librarians, an organization aims to create a space for community and professional development, and camaraderie between Black Library and Information Science students.

I worked with Carolina Firsts, an organization dedicated to supporting and empowering the first-gen population at UNC designing stickers to celebrate National First Generation Week 2025.