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Chanel Spellman-Timmons is a queer, Black, Oakland-bred, and Philly-based elder millennial whose life has been steeped in storytelling, truth-seeking, and the art of human connection. She is an experienced educator, editor, author, and writing consultant, as well as the creator and host of Blurbs N Verbs, a new podcast dedicated to the craft and process of writing. Chanel also co-hosts the relationship podcast Room 2-25 with her partner of twenty-one years, where they explore the nuances and complexities of long-term love, growth, and partnership.
As a creative, Chanel has long held a reputation as a bold, provocative artist committed to honesty on and off the page. That reputation was forged early through her work as a founding member of two acclaimed Bay Area poetry performance groups—Pr3ssPlay Poets and Griot Noir. She later earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, where mentors encouraged her to pursue the highly selective writer’s residency hosted by VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts). She was chosen for the program and studied among a cohort of impactful, prolific writers whose influence continues to shape her work.
Chanel’s writing appears in the anthology Walking in the Feminine: A Stepping Into Our Shoes, and two of her poems will be featured in the forthcoming 2026 anthology Silence. In 2025, she was shortlisted for the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Diverse Writers/Diverse Worlds Grant. Her debut speculative thriller, Synchrony, will be released in February 2027. The novel is book 1 in of The Origin series and blends lush literary prose with eerie and immersive suspense.
As a writing coach and consultant, Chanel thrives on helping writers build expansive worlds, unforgettable characters, and resonant themes through imaginative, tailored coaching frameworks that honor each writer’s voice.
At the heart of all Chanel’s work, creative or relational, is a commitment to authenticity, transparent communication, radical self-awareness, and emotional depth. She guides clients toward clarity, courage, and abundance, inviting them to explore the story and soul that shape the way they love, create, and move through the world.
