Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Haynes.
Hi Daniel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m a Guyanese writer and journalist based in Queens, New York City. With a background in the literary arts and journalism, my work focuses on “Turning Words Into Windows” (my trademark), where I use narrative feature writing pieces to engage readers and show them perspectives different from their own. I’m also a media scholar, one semester away from my Master’s in International Communication, where my research focuses primarily on understanding narrative theory and its application to digital and mainstream media.
Growing up in a developing country, I was inspired by writers like Guyana’s own Martin Carter and Ian McDonald, who used words as gateways to express their ideas, thoughts, and comment on the world around them. My earliest forms of writing were short stories and poems, with my first written piece called “Woman in the Hat” at age five.
In 2017 at 21, I moved to New York to study journalism at St. John’s University after working as a feature writer and digital storyteller for 18 months back home. However, my writing never stopped, and I continued to create narrative pieces that included diverse subjects, stories, and cultural and ethnic backgrounds both in the classroom and outside of it.
Now, living in New York for almost six years, my work continues to be inspired by the idea of sonder, which is “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.”
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It most certainly has not been a smooth road but is it ever? When I first moved to New York, I left behind the life, family, friends, and memories created in Guyana. In my hometown, everyone knew everyone, but in New York, I was just a faceless person swirling in the mass of millions.
I stole food to eat in my first few months, and if it weren’t for friends who, over time, became family and other instrumental figures, I certainly would not be here writing this today. At specific points over the last six years, I was homeless, sleeping on friends’ or classmates’ couches.
The pandemic also derailed many of my plans in 2020, but what can I say? Who didn’t it affect? Thankfully, I never lost the tenacity, drive, and grit I developed throughout my life. My faith in God and the prayers of my adopted mother also kept me going. It wasn’t easy, but looking back at those moments and the last two years since the pandemic, those struggles allowed me to keep the authenticity of my art and deepened my passion for telling stories.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Since my work is rooted in narrative and literary art, I focus on telling stories to illuminate and highlight the human condition. For me, feature writing is an art form to which I have dedicated my life to. My mind is always overflowing with questions that seek to explain this human condition.
In the last two years, my writing has focused on bringing minority stories to life-especially those of Black and Brown people. My pieces are influenced by a more nuanced understanding of the collective experience of struggle and violence but are underscored with themes of hope, love, and community. When the murder of George Floyd happened in the summer of 2020, and the BLM protests ensued, I began work on what I consider my greatest literary piece to date, a book titled “US: A Collection of Our Stories, Thoughts, and Dreams” which I completed in July of this year.
“US” is an authentic and compelling time-capsuled look at the last two years in the US following the murder of George Floyd. In it, there are 75 individual stories, protest photos across four cities, stories of Black men living with passion and purpose, and much more, including poems and stories of allies. Two years later, those stories and the world they reflected remain unchanged, but I believe there is hope. As a story-telling journalist, media scholar, teacher, and especially a black man who has lived in America for the last six years, these stories were and still are vital for me to tell and bring to life. I am responsible for using my ability to turn words into imagery to speak truth to power.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
If I were to list all of my favorites, I’d still be going till next year, but two of my favorite books include Black Boy by Richard Wright and Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin. I also enjoy the music of Nipsey Hussle, J Cole, and 6Lack and most times have them shuffling on repeat while I work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://twiw.us/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turningwordsintowindows/
Image Credits
Luana Seu
