Toussaint Daniels

Toussaint Daniels is a Chicago-based playwright and poet whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, justice, and community transformation. At eighteen, he was sentenced to twenty-six years in prison. During his incarceration, he turned to reading and writing - first as a means of survival, then as a pathway into accountability, curiosity, and personal renewal. What began as a solitary practice evolved into a commitment to help others uncover their own voices, narratives, and possibilities. While inside, Daniels co-founded Dixon Performing Arts, a collective that used theater as a tool for healing and community-building. The group produced more than fifteen original works, including The Story of Violence, which won the 2023 PEN America Prison Writing Award and was later featured on WBEZ's Prisoncast platform. Through this work, he came to understand creativity not only as expression but as a form of justice - a bridge between harm, repair, and collective imagination. Since his release, Daniels has continued to expand this mission. As a co-founder of the Mud Theatre Project, he served as lead writer for Searching for Justice, which debuted at Steppenwolf Theatre in January and brought forward the experiences of system-impacted communities with nuance, rigor, and ethical storytelling. Through the Mud Theatre Project, he mentors youth and incarcerated writers, develops socially engaged theater, and designs arts education programs rooted in empowerment, civic storytelling, and restorative justice. His commitment to creative advocacy is further reflected in the Toussaint Daniels Emerging Writers Award, established in his honor and awarded to incarcerated writers whose work embodies the spirit of social change that he champions.