Camtastic Newsletter September 2026

SIU Interior Design Sophomore Nyla B. Brown Releases Debut Poetry Book

Nyla B. Brown started scribbling poems in a notebook as a young girl growing up in St. Louis. Pouring her joy, faith, pain and the confusion of adolescence onto the page became a form of release that helped her process her own complicated emotions. She wrote about losing loved ones, navigating middle school life and friendships, facing her first major heartbreak as a senior in high school and transitioning to Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a freshman full of hope.

While the poems are diverse and evoke a wide range of emotions, a single throughline binds her work: self-discovery doesn’t happen all at once. Instead, it unfolds in bits and pieces over time as we wade through the highs and lows of the human experience, as pain turns into strength, faith and love mend the broken parts, and like a work of art, we are gradually chiseled into the person we were meant to become.

Now, the sophomore studying interior design has published her first book — a collection of those poems that she wrote spanning middle school to her freshman year at SIUC. The book is self-published through Barnes & Noble Press.

It is a book Brown, 21, hopes gives comfort to others tested by the trials of life, especially young girls who are just starting to experience the crush of emotions that comes with maturing, new friendships, first loves and loss.

In Brown’s own words, “Inward and Upward” is a poetry collection about self-discovery, healing, and self-growth.

“I incorporate my faith throughout the book at times because that’s an important thing to me,” she said. “It’s just a really personal book.”

She didn’t start out with the intention of writing a book; it began simply as a personal journal. But at some point, she realized she had amassed a significant collection of poems — and they were good. She felt it, and others confirmed it when they read her work, sharing that she had put into words things they had been struggling to understand about themselves. For many of the entries, she also wrote short essays alongside the poems to explain the situation she was going through or to provide context around what inspired the writing.

She encourages anyone who wants to process their emotions and get in touch with themselves to read it, women and girls in particular. “Because I am a woman, a Black woman, I feel like you can relate to that in some ways,” she told me when we sat down for a chat late last month at Morris Library. She quickly added that anyone — regardless of age, race or gender — will find “things in that book that you can definitely relate to.”

Some poems, she admitted, were “very hard for me to write at the time because I was hurting.” But she turned that pain into art, finding healing for herself, and sharing that gift with others, too.

“I am happy that I was able to write this down for somebody else to read it,” she said. “If they do pick up my book and give it a chance, they'll be able to know that they’re not alone.”

Publishing a book as a second-year college student is a massive milestone, but for Brown, that relentless drive is just second nature. She believes that any goal can be accomplished if you just keep chipping away at it day-by-day.

“You cannot wait on time, because you've just gotta do it now,” she said.

That same ambitious mindset carries over into her career goals: upon graduating and establishing herself in the field, she plans to create her own interior design brand and lead her own firm.

“I have a desire to be a boss ... If you work hard enough, you deserve it,” she said, adding, “I really want to leave an impact, and I want my name to hold weight.”

Is a second book in her future, too? She hasn’t ruled out that possibility, as much for others as for herself.

“When I draw, when I paint, when I write,” she said, “It’s not even about me. I want you to feel something when you see it or discover it.”

“Words,” she said, “are really important and hold weight. I like to make people think.”

Brown’s book can be purchased at this link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inward-and-upward-nyla-brown/1151218150?ean=9798234160294