Poetry / Spoken Word Speakers

Saul Williams

One of the world’s most prominent spoken-word artists, Williams has redefined poetry as an accessible, living art form to countless youth across America. A contributor to the “Not in our Name” pro-peace initiative, his draft of their “Pledge of Resistance” served as a manifesto to millions across the world ...

Nikki Giovanni

Since bursting onto the scene as a passionate, influential force in the Black Arts Movement almost 40 years ago, Giovanni remains one of the commanding voices gracing America’s political and poetic landscape today. Her latest collection, Bicycles: Love Poems, has been called one of her “most powerful offerings ...

Mohammed Bilal

Cast member of MTV's The Real World. AIDS Activist. He is also a diversity consultant, a musician, a poet, and an extraordinary writer who educates audiences about some of today’s greatest social problems. He is also a facilitator of over 300 diversity presentations and workshops worldwide

Joe Hernandez-Kolski

Joe Hernandez-Kolski, aka "Pocho Joe," is committed to creating work that challenges the audience while it entertains. He combines poetry, comedy and his unique socio-political "Chicagoan" point of view to create a performance that embraces the conundrums of America. Among others, he is applauded by Dr. Cornel West and ...

Sonia Sanchez

A prolific writer, Sonia Sanchez is serious and original. Her poems depict the struggles between black people and white people, between men and women, and between cultures. She is innovative in her use of language and structure, sometimes using black speech in her poetry.

Ishmael Reed

Reed has received writing fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, along with National Endowment and New York State Council of the Arts fellowships for publishing and video production.

Beau Sia

An Asian American poet, Sia has fueled his life with his slam-winning writing and performances in Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, Slamnation, and Slam. Author of A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, as well as the man behind the spoken word albums Attack! Attack! Go! and Dope ...

Fab 5 Freddy

Fab, now considered one of hip-hop's architects and pioneers, has lectured at schools and universities around the world, published numerous articles for various publications including The New York Times Magazine and written a book on hip-hop slang entitled Fresh Fly Flavor, words and phrases of the hip hop generation.

Alice Walker

A gifted and prolific novelist, and a leading voice among African American women writers, Walker is the creative genius behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple.

Toni Blackman

Toni Blackman is a cultural ambassador and an advocate of improvisation. As America's first Hip-Hop Ambassador, her work has consistently communicated that hip-hop is the international platform to position the US as a good global citizen.

Luis Alberto Urrea

An award-winning poet and essayist, Urrea authored the epic novel The Hummingbird’s Daughter, as well as the The Devil’s Highway, a best-selling nonfiction account of Mexican immigrants crossing over the US border. His latest book, Into the Beautiful North, is lauded for having Urrea’s ...

Black Ice

When a person is truly talented, fame has a way of finding them. For poet/spoken word artist/MC extraordinaire Black Ice, his spot in the limelight was more of a divine gift than a personal goal. With industry power players backing him like Russell Simmons, who introduced Black Ice to the world on his Def Poetry Jam ...

Miller and Lucinda Williams

Capturing something truly, artistically significant, poet Miller Williams and his daughter, Grammy-winner Lucinda Williams, collaborate on a performance bringing words and song together. A powerful look at the origin of artistic talent, the concert reveals the similarities between poet and musician with Williams and his ...

The Color Orange

In 1997, long-time friends Mohammed Bilal and Josh "Boac" Goldstein formed the underground hip-hop group, Orange Flash. For Mohammed and Boac, the name invokes the moment of creativity, the "light bulb" of innovation. Their performance piece, The Color Orange, follows in this vein by using their friendship to actively ...

Ursula Rucker

Poet, performance and recording artist, Rucker is recognized as one of the premiere spoken word recording artists in the music industry today. The alluring tales she creates for The Roots contain subject matter that is motivated by genuine concern and heightened consciousness.

Kevin Powell

As a talented political activist, poet, journalist, essayist, hip-hop historian, public speaker, and entrepreneur, Powell is widely considered one of America's most important voices in these early years of the 21st Century. An astute and enlightening observer, he comments on race, gender, class, and American pop culture ...

Emmett G. Price

Emmett G. Price III is a well regarded musician, educator, and consultant who actively researches, lectures and writes about Black music of the United States with a focus on social, political, economic, cultural, and religious analysis. A noted print and broadcast media expert, he has a comprehensive understanding of ...

Joy Harjo

Author of "Reinventing the Enemy's Language" and "Women Who Fell From the Sky". Recording artist with her band Poetic Justice.

Touré

Touré is the author of Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness, a look at what it means to be black today. He's also an NBC Correspondent working with The Dylan Ratigan Show and the host of Fuse's The Hip-Hop Shop, as well as a Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone.

Giles Li

A firm believer in poetry as politics, his writing approaches serious topics from an emotional point of view. He draws inspiration from a wide range of influences, including Pablo Neruda, Stevie Wonder, Martìn Espada, Nellie Wong and De La Soul. He has performed all over the country at coffee shops, college campuses, and ...