Words and Sh*t

We've arrived at the end of Season 3 of Words and Shit! And to close it all out we're bringing on our hosts to interview each other, reminisce about their favorite moments of the season, share some of their work, and GIVE AWAY SOME PRIZES! We have books from our featured authors, t-shirts, and more. Get to know your hosts, catch some of the most memorable moments of season 3, and win some great goodies!

We're welcoming award winning author Kemi Alabi into the Words and Shit studio to talk about their upcoming book, past successes, the importance of the work they're doing in the black and brown queer and trans spaces, and so much more! Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry! Kemi Alabi is the author of AGAINST HEAVEN (Graywolf Press, 2022), selected by Claudia Rankine as winner of the 2021 Academy of American Poets First Book Award. Their poems and essays have been published in the Atlantic, Poetry, Boston Review, Catapult, Guernica, them., the BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2, Best New Poets 2019, and elsewhere. Selected by Chen Chen as winner of the 2020 Beacon Street Poetry Prize, Kemi has received Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and Brittle Paper Award nominations along with support from MacDowell, Civitella Ranieri, Tin House and Pink Door. They've performed their work across the United States for schools, universities, museums, libraries, theaters, conferences, festivals, protests and more. A Mass LEAP-trained teaching artist, they've worked with students of all ages. Kemi believes in the world-shifting power of words and the radical imaginations of Black queer and trans people. As cultural strategy director of Forward Together, they built political power with cultural workers of color through programs like Echoing Ida, a home for Black women and nonbinary writers, and annual art campaigns like Trans Day of Resilience. The Echoing Ida Collection, coedited with Cynthia R. Greenlee and Janna Zinzi, is available now from Feminist Press.

Back together in the virtual studio, Chibbi and Raqui welcome Patrick Roche for a great conversation about mental health, pop culture, the Dalai Lama, and so much more! Patrick Roche is an award-winning poet, performer, mental health advocate, and Carly Rae Jepsen enthusiast from New Jersey. He has placed at numerous national and regional poetry slams, and serves nationally as an ambassador for the JED Foundation, promoting mental and emotional health, suicide prevention, and substance abuse awareness. His solo stage show debuted in 2020 and was featured on BroadwayWorld and selected for Dixon Place's HOT! Festival, the longest-running festival of its kind celebrating LGBTQ theater and art. His debut full-length collection of poetry A Socially Acceptable Breakdown was just released thru Button Poetry, and his work has appeared in Button Poetry, UpWorthy, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, NBC LX, MSN, Beech Street Review, Gal Pals Present, Freezeray Press, Voicemail Poems, and his mom's fridge. His work explores mental health, grief, sexuality, body image, disordered eating, family, memory, love, joy, pop culture, and everything in between.

Words and Shit will be recorded in front of a LIVE AUDIENCE at the Stonewall International Poetry Slam (SIPS) Festival in Baltimore, Maryland, and we brought back a friend of the show for this very special occasion: Sha'Condria "iCon" Sices-Sibley joined us to talk about her new book, the journey to publication, and the life after. SHA'CONDRIA “iCon” SIBLEY is an Alexandria, Louisiana native and longtime New Orleans-based poet, writer, performing artist, visual artist, and teaching artist. A multiple-time national poetry slam champion, Sha'Condria travels the country performing, including at colleges and universities, and has made many television and stage appearances, including TV One's Verses and Flow and at the mainstage at Essence Music Festival. Her work has been featured on many outlets such as Huffington Post, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, BET, BBC World Radio, as well as in several exhibits, documentaries, and anthologies. She has starred in several stageplays, featured on musical projects with multiple national and Grammy-nominated recording artists, and co-wrote two short films, also starring in one. Sha'Condria is the author of a newly published collection of poetry, My Name Is Pronounced Holy: A Collection of Poems, Prayers, Rememberings, and Reclamations.

Baltimore poet Kenneth Something drops into the Words and Shit studio and we discuss organizing, artivism, the upcoming Stonewall International Poetry Slam Festival, and so much more! Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry! Kenneth Something is a poet, playwright. educator and organizer. However, he is best described as an artivist. Kenneth has been working/creating at the intersection of art and social justice for over ten years. He is the founder and former executive director of DewMore Baltimore, former executive director of Pride Center of Maryland, member of Sons of Baldwin (a LGBTQ spoken word collective) and a professor at Maryland Institute College of Art. Kenneth is the director of programming for the Black Arts District. Kenneth is a 2x National Poetry Slam champion, 3 x DC Pride Slam champion, 2x Baltimore Poetry Grand Slam Champion and was ranked 3rd slam poet in the world in 2017. He is the author of two books "Bricks and Dandelions' and "Baldwin Sent Me".

Join Rooster and Chibbi as they welcome Chicana poet Karla Cordero into the Words and Shit studio. Tune in live to be part of the conversation and get to know the person behind the poetry! Karla Cordero is a Chicana poet, educator, and ARTtivist, raised along the borderlands of Calexico, CA. As a performing artist, Karla is the 2013 Grand Slam Champion, aiding the Elevated San Diego Slam Team to rank 4th in the nation at the National Poetry Slam Competition. She has performed for television networks such as NBC 7 San Diego, TBN Juice Live, and the Old Globe Theater. Her poems have appeared in Oprah Magazine, NPR, Academy of American Poets,, The Break Beat Poets Volume 4. LatiNEXT Anthology, among other publications. Karla is the author of How To Pull Apart The Earth (NOT A CULT. ) a 2019 San Diego Book Award winner and awarding-winning finalist for the 2019 International Latino Book Award and the 2019 International Book Award. She currently serves as a professor of creative writing and composition at MiraCosta College . You can follow her work @karlaflaka13

San Antonio poetry institution Anthony "The Poet" Flores drops by the Words and Shit studio to spit some poems and share some stories. Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry and be part of the conversation! Anthony "The Poet" Flores is a 3-time San Antonio Grand Slam Poetry Champion who has represented our city in competition on six different occasions at the National Poetry Slam. He has performed his work all over the United States, from local schools and community centers to H.B.O.'s Def Poetry Jam to the famous Lincoln Center in New York City. He is a co-founder of Fresh Ink Under-21 Youth Poetry Slam, the first poetry slam & open-mic for teenagers in San Antonio, and he has also been a judge for S.A.'s La Voz City-Wide Spoken Word Competition. Anthony The Poet has also recently completed his 9th year of serving as a judge for the San Antonio Public Library's Young Pegasus Poetry Contest, the oldest poetry contest for kids and young adults in the nation. Six years ago, he founded The University Of The Spoken Word, a collective of spoken word artists that has performed at some of the city's most high-profile cultural events, including Una Noche En La Gloria, Luminaria, and the touring Matisse & Pablo Picasso Tapestries exhibits at the San Antonio Museum of Art, to name a few. His widely popular "Manu Ginobili" poem was published as part of the Manu Ginobili Tribute Poster by the San Antonio Express-News, and he was named "Best Local Poet" in the San Antonio Current's "Best of San Antonio 2018" issue. He released his first full-length book of poetry, CINCUENTA, in January of 2020. He is a full-time poet who lives & works on the Southside of S.A.

This week powerhouse poet Glori B drops into the Words and Shit studio to share some words and wisdom! Join Chibbi and Raqui and tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry! Glori B. is the stage name of Gloria C. Adams, a poet, teacher, mother, and leader in the Austin slam scene. She has competed on Final Stage at the National Poetry Slam, the Women of the World Poetry Slam, and Texas Grand Slam and is a three-time National Haiku Head-to-Head Champion. She is the author of seven chapbooks, and her work can be found on YouTube and Facebook video via Write About Now.

Mason Granger drops into the Words and Shit studio to talk about his work with the youth, his digital projects, his life as the mortar, and his future! Mason Granger is a poet with 15+ years of professional experience on stage & in classrooms across 49 states and six countries. He created the poetry video platform SlamFind as a way to connect poets & poetry fans with live poetry venues around the country, and continues in the spirit of that work as Manager of Community Outreach with Get Lit and thru multiple forthcoming creative projects.

This week, RADI stops by the Words and Shit studio to drop some poems and knowledge! Def Jam Poet and author of One Name, All CAPS; RADI, is an artist, teacher, workshop facilitator, & award winning writer specializing in spoken word. Her work covers topics such as Civil rights, body/sex positivity, colorism, sexism & more, all while reflecting her real life experiences as a fat black lesbian. She uses creative concepts to force those in earshot of her voice to question how they see the world. She reigns as the 3x Poetry Slam Champion of the number one team in the nation, New Jeru Slam team. She is the 2021 Baltimore Pride Slam Champion, the last Slam Champion of The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and a former member of the International Brooklyn Slam team with whom she featured at the 2019 Carnival Slam in the beautiful island of Antigua, but her most prized accomplishment was being the 3rd top Female Slam poet in the world for 2 consecutive years!

Join Chibbi and Rooster in conversation and celebration with Xavier Alexander! Xavier is an indigenous Caribbean Afro-Latino Virgo who love smoking blunts, his dog papi and video games. He like to think of himself as the dash of hot sauce in the soup of life.

Joining us this week, Brandon Alexander Williams drops into the studio to share some work and talk about life, hip hop, teaching, and so much more. Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry! Born in Maywood and raised in Peoria, Illinois, Brandon Alexander Williams is a poet, MC and DJ. He is the most recent recipient of the Grant Wood Fellowship and subsequently named the first “Professor of Hip-Hop”at the University of Iowa's School of Music where he taught courses in Hip-Hop Studies and Culture. Williams is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where he produced “The Yard: An A'Capella/Hip-Hop Musical”. As an active MC and DJ, he has performed and taught throughout the country, produced nine albums, published two books and given several guest lectures and keynotes centered around art-integrated education.

Join Chibbi and Raqui as they meet, talk poetry, and shoot the sh*t with the phenomenal Seema Reza. Seema Reza is a poet and essayist and the author of the poetry collection A Constellation of Half-Lives (Write Bloody Publishing) and the memoir When the World Breaks Open (Red Hen Press). Based outside of Washington DC she is the CEO of Community Building Art Works, an arts organization that encourages the use of the arts as a tool for narration, self-care and socialization among a military population struggling with emotional and physical injuries. In 2015 she was awarded the Col John Gioia Patriot Award by USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore for her work with service members. An alumnus of Goddard College and VONA, her writing has appeared on-line and in print in Bellevue Literary Review, Green Mountain Review, The Washington Post, The LA Review of Books, The Feminist Wire, HerKind, The Offing, and Entropy among others.

Join Chibbi and Raqui as they meet, talk poetry, and shoot the sh*t with the incredible Chen Chen and Sam Herschel Wein. Sam Herschel Wein (he/they) is a Chicago based poet who specializes in perpetual frolicking. They work in queer healthcare and boop around the city on their bike. Their first chapbook, Fruit Mansion (Split Lip Press, 2017) was selected as the winner of the 2016 Turnbuckle Chapbook prize. Their second chapbook, GESUNDHEIT!, a collaboration with Chen Chen, is part of the 2019-2020 Glass Poetry Press series. He co-founded and edits the poetry journal Underblong. Recent poems can be found in Hobart Pulp, Sundog Lit, and Bat City Review, among others. They can be found in the cheese aisle of most stores, in the middle of a hug, or editing poems at your local coffee shop. Chen Chen is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA Editions, 2022) and the forthcoming book of essays, In Cahoots with the Rabbit God (Noemi Press, 2023). His debut book of poems, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. He teaches at Brandeis University.

Join hosts Chibbi & Rooster as they feature the incredible Lady Brion for a night of poetry and conversation. Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry and be part of the conversation! Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, and educator, teaching creative writing at the middle and elementary school level, coaching poetry teams in over 10 institutions for the Louder Than A Bomb poetry program and residencies in over 15 K-12 institutions. She was part of the Baltimore Slammegeddon Slam Team, winning the 2016 National Poetry Slam Championship and the 2017 Southern Fried Regional Slam Championship. Brion is a recipient of the Open Society Institute Fellowship and received the 2017 Salzburg Fellowship for Social Innovators. She received her B.A. in Communications from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. Brion is a board member of Dew More Baltimore, an art centered non-profit using spoken word as a tool to foster community and civic engagement, and holds the position of Cultural Curator for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a grassroots think-tank which advances the public policy interest of Black people in Baltimore through youth leadership development, political advocacy, and autonomous intellectual innovation.

Join hosts Chibbi & Raqui as they feature the illustrious Suzi Q Smith for a night of poetry and conversation. Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry and be part of the conversation! Suzi Q. Smith is an award-winning artist, activist, and educator who lives in Denver, Colorado. Her collection of poems, A Gospel of Bones, is available from Alternating Current Press, and her second collection, Poems for the End of the World, will be available from Finishing Line Press in June 2021. Suzi Q. has also worked extensively as an activist with civil rights organizations, victims advocate organizations, arts organizations, peace organizations, hospitals, prisons, and more. She was the founding Slammaster of Denver's Slam Nuba, and she spent 12 years in the poetry slam arena as a coach, organizer, and performer. In addition, she has worked extensively with youth, serving as a Teaching Artist with Youth On Record, and as a coach of Denver Minor Disturbance Youth Poetry Slam, resulting in two international championships. Currently, Suzi Q. Smith performs and teaches poetry and music throughout the U.S., in addition to leading workshops on writing and performance, while she works on her next collections.

This week Chibbi and Raqui broadcast LIVE from the Bbaravado Ink Book Fair in Galveston, TX, sharing work and having conversation with the featured writers, including Torrina Harris, LeChell "The Shootah," Kenji Lockett, Aris Kian and Lupe Mendez! Check it out to hear about their latest work, projects, and what the future holds for each of them.

Hosts Rooster & Raqui welcome award winning poet Analicia Sotelo to the Words and Shit studio! Analicia Sotelo is the author of Virgin, the inaugural winner of the Jake Adam York Prize, selected by Ross Gay for Milkweed Editions (2018) and the chapbook, Nonstop Godhead, selected by Rigoberto González for Poetry Society of America. The poem “I'm Trying to Write a Poem About a Virgin and It's Awful” was selected for Best New Poets 2015 by Tracy K. Smith. Poems have also appeared in the The New Yorker, Boston Review, The Nation, Kenyon Review, Poem-a-Day and The New England Review. Analicia is a Canto Mundo fellow and the recipient of the 2016 DISQUIET International Literary Prize. Analicia holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Houston.

Join hosts Chibbi & Rooster as they feature the new Houston Poet Laurette Outspoken Bean for a night of poetry and conversation. Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry and be part of the conversation! The New Jersey born, San Antonio raised, H-Town based military brat was introduced to the arts and world cultures at a very young age and has not let go of it. "An energetic pioneer for poetry, in all its different sizes and shapes, Bean is dedicated to making sure that poets get heard," Emily Hinds of Arts and Culture Magazine wrote of Bean. Bean uses poetry to engage different mediums and institutions to create new and engaging art, such as being the first poet to perform on Houston Ballet's main stage with their production "Play." He has also been commissioned to write and perform a national campaign on diversity for Pabst Blue Ribbon and VICE while creating/producing his own festival Plus Fest: the EVERYTHING plus POETRY Festival. In 2008, Bean helped develop Texas' largest youth poetry slam organization and slam team, Meta-Four Houston, with Shannon Buggs and DiverseWorks. In which he stills coaches and uses it as a vehicle today to mentor Houston's youth. He started performing spoken-word in 2005. Outspoken Bean is a true renaissance man and culture bearer through poetry, Bean willingly seeks, finds, collaborates, and creates new ways for people to experience poetry through multiple mediums.

Join hosts Chibbi & Raqui as they kick off season 3 of Words and Sh*t with the San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson, to talk about what she's been up to in the past year and a half, despite the pandemic, and what she still has planned! Tune in live to get to know the person behind the poetry! Andrea Sanderson, San Antonio, TX. Poet Laureate 2020-2023, performs as “Vocab” in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas. “Watching her perform, the word “hero” comes to mind. And not “hero” for the sake of just skill, but for her work in her community: Sanderson teaches poetry workshops, mentors, builds up and encourages artists to pursue their art, and gives them platforms to showcase their talent. Sanderson's interest in other people's art and artistic development became a passion of hers, and she started curating her own shows and creating platforms for other artists to hone their craft by hosting open mics.” (From The San Antonio Current, Jan. 16, 2018.) Her poetry is published in, The Texas Observer, January 2016 Issue, Pariah Anthology SFA Press, March 2016, and Sycorax's Daughters, Cedar Grove Publishing, January 2017, Soundbite Vol. 3, Anti-Languorous Project, Spring 2019. Her debut book entitled: She Lives In Music, published on Flower Song Press, was released on Valentine's Day 2020. Her album She Tastes Like Music, is available on all music streaming platforms. She received awards, Performer of the Year, Influencer of the Year, from Project Forward, and Dream Voice, from the Dream Week Commission. Sanderson is the winner of the 2019 People's Choice Award, awarded by Luminaria Artist Foundation (formerly known as: Artist Foundation of San Antonio).In May of 2020 she was awarded Best Live Entertainment/Band Musician of the Year by the SEA Awards.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Meccamorphosis to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Mecca Verdell is a Baltimore-based poet and performer of Dewmore Baltimore. When she started her poetry career in 2016, Mecca won Brave New Voices, an international youth poetry slam. She's also been a radio show host for two Baltimore-based radio stations, interviewing nationally and locally known poets and writers. She has been dedicated to providing youth with safe spaces to express their creative voices with free open mics, showcases, and competitions. Mecca is the former Youth Poet Ambassador of Baltimore (2017), opening performer for Aloe Blacc at the National Education Association conference in 2017, Southern Fried Poetry Slam winner of 2017 and 2018, Top 10 finalist of the Woman of the world poetry slam 2018, and top 3 finalists for Texas Grand Slam. Outside of competition, she has taught the importance of using poetry as a tool for social justice and healing for middle schools, high schools, and colleges.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Buddy Wakefield to the Words and Sh*t stage! Get to know the person behind the poetry! Buddy Wakefield is an actor, writer, producer, and three-time world champion spoken word artist featured on the BBC, HBO's Def Poetry Jam, ABC Radio National and has been signed to both Sage Francis' Strange Famous Records as well as Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records. In 2004 he won the first Individual World Poetry Slam Finals thanks to the support of anthropologist and producer Norman Lear, then went on to share the stage with nearly every notable performance poet in the world in over 2000 venues internationally from The Great Lawn of Central Park, Zimbabwe's Shoko Festival and Scotland's Oran Mor to San Quentin State Penitentiary, House of Blues New Orleans and The Basement in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of Awful Good Writers, and the producer and host of Heavy Hitters Festival 2020, a summer-long series of online shows and workshops featuring thirty of the most beloved performance poets alive. The inaugural author released on Write Bloody Publishing, and an original Board of Directors member with Youth Speaks Seattle, Buddy is published in dozens of books internationally with work used to win multiple national collegiate debate and forensics competitions. His first short film, Farmly, directed by Jamie DeWolf, won Best of Texas at the Literally Short Film Fest, and the USA Film Festival. Wakefield, who is not concerned with what poetry is or is not, delivers raw, rounded, disarming performances of humor and heart. He is now based in Los Angeles, CA, where he lives as a free agent pursuing acting and screenwriting for both television and film.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Kevin Kantor to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Kevin Kantor (they/them) is a trans-non-binary poet and theatre-maker working to deconstruct and reimagine the semiotics of gender on stage and in performance. Kevin has toured nationally with their poetry, performing & leading workshops at colleges & universities across the country. Kevin's writing, which aims to explore survivorship & trauma, challenge rape culture, interrogate gender's role in storytelling, and raise queer voices, has been featured in Teen Vogue, Buzzfeed, Upworthy, & in the anthology We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out (Holt Paperback). Their collective work has garnered over 18 million online views. Their debut full-length collection ‘Please Come Off-Book' is now available with Button Poetry.

We're doing something a little different tonight: with the season almost done, we want to take a moment to check in with each other and with you! Tune in tonight to ask your own questions to our hosts! Get to know Chibbi and Raqui a little better, hear some of their work, and talk about life.

Akeem Olaj can be called a modern day Renaissance man. He was one of the founding members of the New Orleans Youth Slam and Slam New Orleans (Team S.N.O.), winners of the 2010 National Group Piece Competition, the & the 2012 and 2013 winners of the National Poetry Slam Competition. Other Titles that he won with Team S.N.O. include the 2016 Southern-fried Team poetry champion, the 2016 And the 2017 Southwest regional poetry slam, the 2017 Red Stick Regional Poetry champion, and he was one of the winners in a three-way tie at the 2019 Individual World Poetry Slam Competition.

Join hosts Chibbi and Rooster as we welcome Claude Cardona (she/ they) to the Words and Sh*t stage! Tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Claude Delfina Cardona is a poet born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She received her BA from St. Mary's University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Texas State University. In 2013, she co-founded Chifladazine alongside Laura Valdez, a zine that highlights creative work by Latinas and Latinxs. In 2019, she co-founded Infrarrealista Review, a literary journal for all types of Texan writers, with Linda Rivas Vázquez. Cardona loves music and films as much as she loves poetry. She is an aspiring DJ and cultural critic. Winner of the Fall 2020 Host Publication Chap Book Prize, Claudia's book, WHAT REMAINS, is a collection of poems propelled by impulse, desire, and an ancestral sense of longing. These poems are experiential; they exist within the dark and splendid catacombs of the body, in dusty moonlit Texas nights, and invite us into their own glittery mythos of what it means to be a young woman falling in and out of love in San Antonio.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Asia Samson to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Asia Samson is a professional spoken word artist from Florida and has toured over 1000 colleges across the country since 2006. He's been seen on HBO Def Poetry Jam, Ted Talks, Button Poetry, NPR's Tiny Desk Contest and So Far Sounds. He has worked with companies like Disney, To Write Love On Her Arms & most recently, Nokia Mobile.

Join hosts Chibbi and Rooster as we welcome Josh Nguyen to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Joshua Nguyen is a bisexual Vietnamese-American writer, a collegiate national poetry slam champion (CUPSI), and a native Houstonian. He is the author of the chapbook, "American Lục Bát for My Mother" (forthcoming, March 2021, Bull City Press) and has received fellowships from Kundiman, Tin House, Sundress Academy For The Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. He has been published in The Offing, Wildness, American Poetry Review, The Texas Review, PANK, Auburn Avenue, Crab Orchard Review, and Gulf Coast Mag. He has also been featured on both the "VS" podcast and Tracy K. Smith's, "The Slowdown". He is a bubble tea connoisseur and works in a kitchen. His debut poetry collection, "Come Clean" (forthcoming, fall 2021, University of Wisconsin Press), was the winner of the 2021 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry. He is a PhD student at The University of Mississippi, where he also received his MFA. Joshua Nguyen began writing with the Meta-Four Houston Youth Slam Team from 2008-2012 and competed in Brave New Voices. He is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and was part of the UT Spitshine slam team from 2014-2016. He placed #1 in the nation in 2014, won ‘Best Writing as a Team' in 2015, and was the 2015 CUPSI Haiku Champ. In 2016, he traveled to Washington D.C. as a member of Future Corp to organize the 2016 Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival. He was a featured poet in a commercial for the National Education Association's 'Do You Hear Us?' campaign.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Natalia Trevino to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Born in Mexico City, Natalia grew up in Texas where her mother taught her Spanish, and Bert and Ernie gave her lessons in English. Her work captures the voices and lives of women who emerge despite everything that works tirelessly against them. Natalia has won several awards for her poetry and fiction including the 2004 Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Award, the 2008 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize, and the 2012 Literary Award from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio. She graduated with a BA in English when she was 21 from The University of Texas at San Antonio. Two years later, she received her Masters of Arts in English from the same university. After almost two decades of teaching, she went back to school to study fiction writing. She graduated from the University of Nebraska's MFA program in Creative Writing in 2010. Her jobs have included teacher, stay-at-home mom, a single mom, small business owner/book-keeper, and now, assistant professor of English at Northwest Vista College where she works with students of all levels. Natalia's poems appear in several publications including Bordersenses, Borderlands Texas Poetry Review, The Houston Literary Review, Sugar House Review, Sliver of Stone, burntdistric, Voices de la Luna, and North Texas State's, Inheritance of Light. A member of the Macondo Writers' Workshop, Natalia has been working to increase young adult literacy since 1992 in her teaching career and through programs sponsored by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Gemini Ink, and the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Jay Ward to the Words and Sh*t stage! Get to know the person behind the poetry! Jay Ward is a poet and teaching artist from Charlotte, NC. He is a National Slam champion (2018) and an Individual World Poetry Slam champion (2019). Jay currently serves as a Program Director for BreatheInk, where he facilitates writing and performance workshops and coaches youth poets attending Brave New Voices each year. He has attended Breadloaf Writer's Conference, Callaloo, The Watering Hole, and Tin House Winter Workshop. His work can be found in Crabfat Magazine, Lackadaisy Lit Mag, and on Button Poetry.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Jon Sands to the Words and Sh*t stage! Get to know the person behind the poetry! Jon Sands is a winner of the 2018 National Poetry Series, selected for his second book, It's Not Magic (Beacon Press, 2019). Since March, he's been hosting an interview series on IG Live called Ps & Qs. You can follow him at @iAmJonSands. His work has been featured in the New York Times, as well as anthologized in The Best American Poetry. He teaches at Brooklyn College, Urban Word NYC, and for over a decade has facilitated a weekly writing workshop for adults at Baily House, an HIV/AIDS service center in East Harlem. He tours extensively as a poet, but lives in Brooklyn.

Join hosts Chibbi and Aris Kion as we welcome FreeQuency to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Storyteller, speaker, workshop leader, and performance artist, FreeQuency is a Black migrant non-binary humanoid, who self identifies as masculine off-center, femme adjacent, an AunTea, and/or a prettyboi. FreeQuency's work interrogates and occupies the in-between spaces of gender & geography while exploring the mundane nuances and stark contradictions of everyday existence. They have been featured in or written for The Independent, the New York Times, OkayAfrica, Upworthy, TEDx, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, & other outlets, and gave a TED talk with nearly 1million views that almost didn't get released.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Rudy Francisco to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. He was born, raised, and still resides in, San Diego, California. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A. in Psychology and decided to continue his education by pursuing an M.A in Organizational Studies. As an artist, Rudy Francisco is an amalgamation of social critique, introspection, honesty, and humor. He uses personal narratives to discuss the politics of race, class, gender, and religion while simultaneously pinpointing and reinforcing the interconnected nature of human existence. Rudy Francisco seeks to create work that promotes healthy dialogue, discourse and social change. Furthermore, Rudy has made conscious efforts to cultivate young poets and expose the youth to the genre of Spoken Word Poetry via coaching, workshops and performances at preparatory schools and community centers. Rudy has also received admiration from institutions of higher education. He has conducted guest lectures and performances at countless colleges and universities across the nation. Rudy Francisco has shared stages with prominent artists such as Gladys Knight, Jordin Sparks, Musiq Soul Child, and Jill Scott. He is also the co-host of the largest poetry venue in San Diego, competes in domestic and international poetry slam competitions and had the honor of being nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Ultimately, Rudy's goal is to continue to assist others in harnessing their creativity while cultivating his own. Rudy Francisco is the 2009 National Underground Poetry Slam Champion, 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, and appeared on TV One's “Verses and Flow”

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome José Olivarez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere.

Join hosts Chibbi and Rooster as we welcome Christopher Michael to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Christopher Michael has been rocking Texas mics for 20 years. Former President of Poetry Slam Inc, Texas Poet Laureate nominee, National Poetry Slam Finalist, has shared stages with Angie Stone & Eric Benet . He's the founder of 310 Brown Street publishing, author of three books and SlamMaster for Austin NeoSoul. You can check out his work on www.mrmichael310.com, 310brownstreet.com, or his album “Nuclear Orange” on ITunes, Spotify & Tidal.

Aris Kian is a student of community organizing and abolition. She is ranked #10 in the 2020 Women of the World Poetry Slam and #4 in the 2019 CUPSI competition with UH team CoogSlam. She is an Emerging Writers Fellow with Writers in the Schools and an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellow pursuing her MFA at the University of Houston. Her poems are published with Write About Now, Underground Journal, Houston Review of Books, and elsewhere. Currently, she explores work surrounding her experience with academia, critical theory, and the Black imagination.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Bonafide Rojas to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Poet and musician Bonafide Rojas was born and raised in the Bronx. He is the author of four collections of poetry: Pelo Bueno: A Day in the Life of a Nuyorican Poet (Dark Souls Press, 2004), When the City Sleeps (Grand Concourse Press, 2012), Renovatio (Grand Concourse Press, 2012), and Notes on the Return to the Island (Grand Concourse Press, 2017). He founded Grand Concourse Press, named after the thoroughfare he grew up on, in 2012. Rojas identifies as one of the “next generation” of Nuyorican poets. In an interview with Gabriela Sierra Alonso, Rojas notes, “I don't do the salsa thing. I'm a Nuyorican poet, but that's not my thing. I embrace the Nuyorican label as an artist, and as a poet—because it is a school. … The truth is that I'm Puerto Rican, and there are many ways to express that—not just by listening to our parents' music, or going to these hyper cultural events.” Rojas is the 2002 slam this! champion and has performed on HBO's Def Poetry Jam as well as in numerous venues in New York City and internationally. His writing appears in journals and anthologies that include Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam (Three Rivers Press, 2001) and Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art (Third World Press, 2002). He is a guitar player and leader of the rock group Mona Passage. He lives in New York City and travels frequently to Puerto Rico, where he lectures on poetry with the hope, according to Alonso, “of inspiring the next generation of Nuyorican poets."

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Natasha Hernandez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Natasha Hernandez is a writer and nurse from San Antonio, TX. She previously published the San Anto Pos, Wow! zine. Influenced by San Antonio culture, comic books, science fiction and feminismo, works include poetry, comics, photos, and altars. Best compliment received: A homeless man once told Tash she looked like Selena. If he was just looking for a cigarette, it totally worked.

Join Chibbi & Raqui for their conversation with and performance by Ayokunle Falomo! Ayokunle Falomo is Nigerian, American, a TEDx speaker, and the author of African, American (New Delta Review, 2019) and two self-published collections: KIN.DREAD (2017) and thread, this wordweaver must! (2014). His work has been featured in print and online numerous times, including in The New York Times, Houston Chronicle, Houston Public Media, Write About Now, Michigan Quarterly Review, Glass Mountain, Berkeley Poetry Review, Santa Fe Writers Project, and The Texas Review. A recipient of fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and MacDowell, his poems have been selected as finalists or winners for Fourteen Hills Press' Stacy Doris Memorial Award, Flypaper Magazine‘s Music Poetry Contest, The OffBeat‘s Poetry Contest, and Nimrod Journal‘s The Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from University of Houston, a Specialist in School Psychology degree from Sam Houston State University and is currently an MFA (Poetry) student at the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program.

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Sana Sana, a poetry chapbook with Game Over Books, and a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion. Ariana's work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, spirituality, and care. She is currently studying to be a librarian. You can find her poems and rants @ArianaThePoet on Instagram and Twitter.

Brandon Leake is the winner of Season 15 of NBC's America's Got Talent. He is also the Founder and CEO of Called To Move – CTM, is an artistic visionary whose roots lie in the ghettos of the south side of Stockton, California. Being born and raised to a single parent household with his mother, Carla Leake-Gibson, Brandon was accustomed to the complexities of playing this game of life with the decks stacked against you. However, with a strong home life and some divine intervention Brandon made it out of his neighborhood ghetto into a college classroom. This journey came with its many trials from the loss of integral members of his family and abusive home life, but these trails mixed with this spiritual collegiate journey would soon blossom into a beautiful poetic journey. In 2012 Brandon started Called To Move – CTM at Simpson University with a small group of artists just trying to share their gifts and encourage others to do so, which has lead its way into inspiring others through poetry all across the country. Brandon Leake has traveled across the country and abroad performing his pieces, leading spoken word poetry workshops, and keynote speaking.

ShaCondria "iCon" Sibley is an Alexandria, Louisiana native, and longtime New Orleans-based, award-winning poet, author, performing artist, visual artist, teaching artist, host, event curator, and creator of the viral “to all the little Black girls with big names” movement. A multiple-time national poetry slam champion and performer, she travels the country and has made many television and stage appearances, including on TV One's Verses and Flow and on the mainstage at the Essence Music Festival. Her work has been featured on many outlets such as Huffington Post, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, InStyle, BET, and BBC World Radio. She has also featured on musical projects with multiple national recording artists and has co-written two short films. iCon uses her work/words largely to speak on her existence as a southern Blk woman as they relate to identity, family/community, faith, and healing. Her first published work, My Name Is Pronounced Holy, will be available Winter 2020.

Dr. Adam Falkner is a poet, educator and arts & culture strategist. He is the author of The Willies (Button Poetry, 2020) and Adoption (Winner of the 2017 Diode Editions Chapbook Award), and his work has appeared in a range of print and media spaces including on programming for HBO, NBC, NPR, in the New York Times, and elsewhere. A former high school English teacher in New York City's public schools, Adam is the Founder and Executive Director of the pioneering diversity consulting initiative, the Dialogue Arts Project, in which capacity he develops and facilitates trainings for schools, companies and cultural institutions across the country. Adam has toured the United States as a guest artist, lecturer and trainer for thousands of students, educators and corporate employees, and was the featured performer at President Obama's Grassroots Ball at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. He holds a Ph.D. in English and Education from Columbia University.

Boris “Bluz” Rogers has risen through the ranks of spoken word entertainment. He is an Emmy Award winner, has been recognized with an Excellence in Leadership award from the NAACP, is the current Director of Creative Engagement for Blumenthal Performing Arts, and is the slam master and coach of SlamCharlotte - the competitive team of poets whom he led to back to back National Poetry Slam victories in 2007 and 2008 and a historic 3rd win in 2018. Bluz is also a 2010 Southern Fried Poetry Slam Champion. He has featured and hosted at the LA Poetry festival as well as the National Poetry Slam (2012) and the Individual World Poetry Slam (2013). Bluz also served as a delegate and writer for the All-America City awards where he helped Charlotte win the distinction of All-America City.

Black Chakra is a spoken word and hip-hop artist whose talents have been showcased on stages across America. In his time competing in poetry slam competitions he has been a national poetry slam champion, Texas Grand Slam champion, Southern Fried slam champion, and a plethora of other titles too long to list. Black Chakra embodies the city of Baltimore through aggressive performance and incredible writing. Next to being the talented writer that he is what he takes most pride in is being a youth poetry teacher for Dewmore Baltimore. He helps Baltimore youths cultivate their talent and showcase it on national stages.

Yesika Salgado is a Los Angeles based Salvadoran poet who writes about her family, her culture, her city, and her fat brown body. She has shared her work in venues and campuses throughout the country. Salgado is a two time National Poetry Slam finalist and the recipient of the 2020 International Latino Book Award in Poetry. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Univision, CNN, NPR, TEDx, and many digital platforms. She is an internationally recognized body-positive activist and the writer of the column Suelta for Remezcla. Yesika is the author of the best-sellers Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa, published with Not a Cult.

Noel Quiñones is a Puerto Rican writer, performer, and community organizer from the Bronx. As a writer, he's received fellowships from Poets House, the Poetry Foundation, CantoMundo, Candor Arts, and SAFTA (Sundress Academy for the Arts). His work has been published in POETRY, the Latin American Review, Rattle, Kweli Journal, and elsewhere. As a performer, he's featured at Lincoln Center, Harvard University, BAM, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and the Honolulu Museum of Art to name a few. He is the founder and former director of Project X, a Bronx-based arts organization, and a current M.F.A. candidate in poetry at the University of Mississippi. Follow him at noelpquinones.com or online @noelpquinones.

Natasha Carrizosa is a poet, writer, emcee, and speaker. Her work is deeply rooted in her childhood and life experiences. Raised as the daughter of a fierce African-American mother and Mexican father, her writing reflects the dichotomy of these two rich cultures. She is author of mexiafricana, heavy light, and crown. Her work has recently been published in ¡Manteca! - an anthology of Afro-Latino poets and R2: The Rice Review (Rice University.) She has performed her work and conducted workshops for audiences in Madrid, Paris, St. Lucia, New York, Chicago, Houston and countless other cities.

Joaquín Zihuatanejo was awarded the 2017 Anhinga Press-Robert Dana Prize for Poetry. His latest collection, Arsonist, was published by Anhinga Press in September of 2018. His work has been featured in Prairie Schooner, Sonora Review, Huizache, and Southwestern American Literature among other journals and anthologies. Joaquín received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he now teaches Performance Poetry 101 to undergrad students. His work has been featured on NBC, HBO, and NPR in Historias and The National Teachers Initiative. Joaquín has two passions in his life, his partner, Aída and poetry, always in that order.

Jasminne Mendez is a Dominican-American poet, educator, playwright and award-winning author. Mendez has had poetry and essays published by or forthcoming in The New England Review, Crab Creek Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, and others. She is the author of two poetry/prose collections: Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award, and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry (Arte Publico Press, 2018). She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumnus. Her second YA memoir A Bucket of Dirty Water: Memories of my Girlhood and her debut picture book, Josefina's Habichuelas (Arte Público Press) will be released in 2021. Her first full poetry collection Machete will be released in 2022 (Noemi Press).

Alexandra van de Kamp is the Executive Director for Gemini Ink, San Antonio's Writing Arts Center. Her most recent books of poems are Kiss/Hierarchy (Rain Mountain Press 2016) and The Park of Upside-Down Chairs (CW Books 2010). She has also published several chapbooks, including Dear Jean Seberg (2011), which won the 2010 Burnside Review Chapbook Contest. Her poems have been published in journals nationwide, such as The Texas Observer, The Cincinnati Review, Connecticut Review, Denver Quarterly, Washington Square, 32Poems, San Antonio Express-News and more. She is currently at work on a third manuscript of poems. Her poems have been nominated for five Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net.