Nyorican Poets Tour BIO

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International Slam Poets Australia Tour 2011. 1/1 31032011. Biographies of international slam poets and tour partnership. International Slam Poets. Jive Poetic. From his hometown in Buffalo, NY to London, England Jive Poetic has ignited microphones with humorous wordplay and thought provoking verbal display. After Jive Poetic won his first slam in January of 2001, it was understood that his audience heard every word he said. Soon, Jive Poetic began to season his art form through feature performances at local New York and New Jersey venues earning his stripes as a verbal connoisseur after rave performances at the Brooklyn Moon to Serengeti Plains. Jive then won New York's Grand Slam title in 2002. A former member of the internationally recognized Tri-City slam team that won "The Cross The Boarder Slam" held in Toronto, Canada. In 2003, Jive Poetic became a member of the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe's National Slam Team. While his voice is lightened in humor, his topics are heavy. As a mindful poet, serious performer and inquisitive speaker, Jive Poetic attempts to take his listeners in to a mind state beyond the obvious and dares you to listen, further. Mahogany L. Brown. Mahogany L. Browne is currently host and curator at the Nuyorican Poets Café. Mahogany is the editor of the women's anthology His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER and author of several books including her latest book of poems: Swag. She has released five LPs including the live album Sheroshima. As co-founder of the Off Broadway Poetry Production, Jam On It, and co-producer of NYC's 1st Performance Poetry Festival: SoundBites Poetry Festival, Mahogany bridges the gap between lyrical poets and literary emcee. Her freelance journalism can be found in magazines Uptown, KING, XXL, The Source, Canada's The Word and UK's MOBO. Mahogany facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country, focusing on women empowerment and youth mentoring. She is the publisher of Penmanship Books, a small press for performance artists and owns PoetCD.Com, an on-line marketing and distribution company for poets.

Transcript of Nyorican Poets Tour BIO

Page 1: Nyorican Poets Tour BIO

International Slam Poets Australia Tour 2011.

1/1 31032011. 

 

Biographies of international slam poets and tour partnership.

International Slam Poets.

Jive Poetic.

From his hometown in Buffalo, NY to London, England Jive Poetic has ignited microphones with humorous wordplay and thought provoking verbal display.

After Jive Poetic won his first slam in January of 2001, it was understood that his audience heard every word he said. Soon, Jive Poetic began to season his art form through feature performances at local New York and New Jersey venues earning his stripes as a verbal connoisseur after rave performances at the Brooklyn Moon to Serengeti Plains. Jive then won New York's Grand Slam title in 2002. A former member of the internationally recognized Tri-City slam team that won "The Cross The Boarder Slam" held in Toronto, Canada. In 2003, Jive Poetic became a member of the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe's National Slam Team.

While his voice is lightened in humor, his topics are heavy. As a mindful poet, serious performer and inquisitive speaker, Jive Poetic attempts to take his listeners in to a mind state beyond the obvious and dares you to listen, further.

Mahogany L. Brown.

Mahogany L. Browne is currently host and curator at the Nuyorican Poets Café. Mahogany is the editor of the women's anthology His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER and author of several books including her latest book of poems: Swag. She has released five LPs including the live album Sheroshima. As co-founder of the Off Broadway Poetry Production, Jam On It, and co-producer of NYC's 1st Performance Poetry Festival:

SoundBites Poetry Festival, Mahogany bridges the gap between lyrical poets and literary emcee. Her freelance journalism can be found in magazines Uptown, KING, XXL, The Source, Canada's The Word and UK's MOBO.

Mahogany facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country, focusing on women empowerment and youth mentoring. She is the publisher of Penmanship Books, a small press for performance artists and owns PoetCD.Com, an on-line marketing and distribution company for poets.

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Ken Arkind.

Ken Arkind is a National Poetry Slam Champion, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion and full time touring artist who has performed his work in almost all of the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and at over 200 colleges and universities. His work has been featured in the documentaries SPIT!, Slamplanet, as well as on HBO, CBS, NBC and Borders.com's Open Door Poetry series alongside former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. He is the Executive Director and head Brave New Voices coach for The Denver Minor Disturbance Poetry Project, an independent literary arts organization dedicated to helping youth find their voice through the mediums of poetry and performance. His first collection of poetry "I know why Georgia Turner waited by the train tracks" will be available summer of 2011 from Penmanship Books.

"Arkind speaks from a place of honesty that most of us are afraid of, but still spend our lifetimes trying to reach; young people feel a sense of kinship with Ken because they smell and recognize this honesty as something they are desperately trying to awaken and hold onto in themselves." - English/Creative Writing Teacher for Montrose High School Montrose, CO.

Nuyorican Poets Café.

Founded circa 1973, The Nuyorican

Poets Cafe began as a living room salon in the East Village apartment of writer and poet, Miguel Algarin. Algarin, a college professor at the

centre of this blossoming arts community, was dedicated to

bringing new work into the public eye. By 1975 it became clear that

there were many poets and too much energy for Algarin's living

room. William Morrow Inc. had just published an anthology titled

“Nuyorican Poetry”. Miguel Piñero's “Short Eyes” had just won two awards as best play of the 1974 season. Poetry, the vital sign of a new culture, needed to be heard live. So Algarin rented an Irish bar, the Sunshine Cafe on East 6th Street, which was

christened The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. By 1980, the overflow of audiences led the Cafe to purchase an “in rem” building at 236 East 3rd Street to expand its activities

and programs.   

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 Tour Partnership. 

 The Centre for Poetics and Justice. 

 

  

Spoken Word Artists and Youth Educators.  

Joel McKerrow  

Joel McKerrow is a performance poet, writer, educator, youth worker, thinker and activist. He has been a youth worker for the last 10 years, working with marginalised teenagers in a broad range of organisations in both New South Wales and Victoria. Last year he released his first book, Beyond Rhetoric – Writings in the Tradition of Kahlil Gibran. He is an active spoken word poet featuring at many different poetry nights

around Melbourne and recently placed second in the finals of the Melbourne Overload Poetry Slam and represented at the Victorian State Final of the Australian Poetry Slam. With a style that moves between spoken word and hip-hop, his poetry has been described as, ‘blistering in its intensity’, ‘giving new meaning to the power of words and almost leaving you breathless’, ‘never forceful but always urgent... his words work through him and his poems have life’. Vocationally, he has been an educator for the last five years and is currently on Faculty at Tabor College Victoria where he lectures in youth work and runs a transitional year for school leavers. He has a B.A. (Psych), B.Th. (Theology), Cert. IV TAA (Training and Assessment) and M.A. (Vocational Practice).

Luka ‘Lesson’ Haralampou

Luka is a poet, hip-hop emcee, community arts worker and university educator. The winner of the Melbourne Overload Poetry Slam in 2010, Luka travelled to the USA and competed in the Individual World Poetry Slam finals and came 19th out of a field of 72 poets. In Australia, he is the Assistant Lecturer in Indigenous Studies at Monash University and has extensive experience working with Indigenous, refugee, recent migrant and mainstream communities, and schools in arts-based development projects. Luka has also worked as a community consultation officer, coordinated symposiums and spoken in forums and lectures based on inter-cultural communication and Australian identity.

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Bronwyn Lovell

Bronwyn has worked as a magazine feature writer, a children’s book writer and editor, and as a remedial literacy instructor for disadvantaged children in Western Sydney and in Cape York Indigenous communities. She has an M.Litt. in Creative Writing and a B.A. in English and Film Studies from the University of Sydney. Bronwyn, in association with Australian Poetry, is the poet in residence at Kinfolk Café in the city, and was recently made an intern on the editorial team of Going Down Swinging. She has a passion for linguistics and storytelling, and has been writing poetry since she was a little girl.

Tariro Mavonda

Tariro is currently completing her third year of acting at the Victorian College of the Arts. She is both passionate of heart and passionate about spoken word poetry. From the roots of her heritage, she dances and sings African style. She is a two-time finalist in the Victorian State Final of the Australian Poetry Slam and placed third in the national final in 2010.

Laurent Dunningham

After graduating from the Excel School of Performing Arts in

2006 with an Advanced Certificate in Dance and Drama, Laurent has continued her training as Co-Director of

Triple8funk Dance Company for three years in New Zealand and competed in the World Hip-Hop Championships in Las Vegas in 2007. She has travelled the globe professionally, teaching and performing in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Chicago,

and throughout Australia and New Zealand. After moving to Melbourne in 2010, she continued to teach dance and was also a finalist in the Melbourne Overload Poetry Slam and the Victorian State Final of the Australian Poetry Slam. She has been writing for five years and has performed spoken word throughout Australia and New Zealand. She has come to Melbourne to further pursue her career in music and lyrics.

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Meena Shamaly

As far as love goes, Meena’s first has always been music. That is, until he discovered spoken word performance poetry in 2007, when he realised that his greatest love is creativity itself. He is an aspiring composer/producer whose love for creating music is currently guiding him through a Bachelor of Music at Monash University, but he is definitely a musician with his own voice.

His poetry has twice earned him a place at the state finals of the Australian Poetry Slam and he has also been a national finalist in 2009, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Poetry is as much music to his mind as it is words on his page.

Cameron Semmens

Cameron Semmens is an award-winning comic poet and performer, with nine books and four CDs of his poetry published to date. He makes his living through words: running workshops, writing books and performing. In 2010 he became an associated artist with World Vision. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Sonya and baby Spencer.

Alia Gabrez

For many years, Alia introduced herself as ‘a writer that does not write’, until she was lucky enough to stumble upon the most honest way to live by her words. Through spoken word, she is able to feel, contemplate, write and tell as she goes, navigating her way and learning to see the magnificent in every story told. As a spoken word artist, Alia strives to connect the pieces of the human experience

through expression and emotion. Her poetry is to be felt rather than heard. Alia works in the field of special needs education, is involved in a grassroots community based tutoring/mentoring program for migrant and disadvantaged youth, is currently working on a cross-cultural story telling project at the Footscray Community Arts Centre, as well as facilitating writing and poetry workshops.

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Professional Development Support.

The Torch Project.

Alison Brash – Artistic Coordinator

A self confessed “arts-junkie”, visual artist and film maker, Alison Brash’s passion for supporting artists on the fringe to gain national recognition is infectious. Alison has over 20 years work experience in the Arts and Community development sectors. Alison has previously held Management roles with Bindi Inc. in the Northern Territory, Anglicare SA, where she managed their Community Development team as State Programs Manager with Ananguku Arts and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, in South Australia. Known for her ability to think outside the square and implement innovative solutions to address complex social issues, Alison has a solid track record of leading development work in the disability, antipoverty and women’s rights sectors. She has worked with some of the Nation’s leading theatre and visual arts organisation, and has developed strong arts and intercultural networks.

Tour Managers.

Bo Svoronos

Bo Svoronos is facilitator of RMIT's 5 day Cultural Leadership Professional Development Program 8-12 August 2011, Melbourne. Chairman of WELL Productions International touring theatre and contemporary performance company. PhD Student at RMIT in Indigenous Metropolitan Festivals and Reciprocity 2008-2011. Former City of Port Phillip Indigenous Arts Officer and Producer and Programmer of five Yalukit Willam Ngargee: People Place Gathering Indigenous Festivals 2006 to 2010, consulting mentor on 2011 festival. Community visual arts exhibition curator 2007/08/09. Monsalvat artist and writer in residence, April 2010. Falls Fringe Festival Award winner 2009 for trans-media and live performance production 'Letters To Isaac' written and performed by Bo Svoronos, directed by Scott Gooding and produced by Small Change Theatre's Cathy Horsley. Received Innovative Training Award for Indigenous Media Scholarship with OPEN CHANNEL, St Kilda Youth Services and NITV 2009. Received Unity Foundation Individual Contribution to Reconciliation Award 2007. Re-founder and co-director of the St Kilda Writers' Festival 2005/06. Facilitator of The Play Write Sessions City of Port Phillip Cultural Development funded local literature initiative 2003/04/05. Owner/ Operator Creative Collaborations: cultural brokerage entrepreneurship and event productions 2003 to 2006 and ronin chef by trade.

Fiona Brook 

 

Fiona Brook is experienced communications and public relations practitioner with an extensive network in local and international media. She has a substantial track record of success in arts and entertainment, events, fashion, design, and hospitality sectors. Fiona recently left boutique public relations firm, Harvey Publicity, to launch her own production and publicity company, Zilla & Brook. Fiona is an experienced journalist who has lived and worked internationally. Residing in NYC for ten years, Fiona produced stories for general interest and lifestyle magazines in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia in the fields of design, artists and literature as well as travel and events. Since 2004 Fiona has been involved in Australia’s largest photographic biennale, the Ballarat Foto Biennale. Established in 2004 and now preparing for the 2011 festival, Fiona has been a board member, committee member and head of PR and marketing since its inception. Fiona also owned and managed an independent photography company based in Melbourne for five years. In 2010 Fiona undertook short courses in Documentary Filmmaking at Open Channel, then completed with high distinction the inaugural Executive Producers course at Victoria University Law School.