Event Info
Join hosts Mahogany L. Browne and Jive Poetic for the Brooklyn Poetry Slam, back in the virtual space and coming to your computer screen via Zoom!
The Brooklyn Poetry Slam is excited to announce the return of its monthly programming this Fall. Mark your calendars now, and join special guests and featured poets from all over the world, as Mahogany L. Browne hosts and cultivates an incredible evening of poetry and community, supported by beats from Jive Poetic.
Featured poets: Crystal Valentine and RC Weslowski.
Don’t miss a chance to speak out and be heard! Sign ups for the Slam and for the Open Mic happen the night of the event in the Zoom room, so don’t be late!
About the artists
Mahogany L. Browne is the Executive Director of JustMedia, a media literacy initiative designed to support the groundwork of criminal justice leaders and community members. This position is informed by her career as a writer, organizer, & educator. Browne has received fellowships from Agnes Gund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works: Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, & Black Girl Magic. As the founder of the diverse lit initiative, Woke Baby Book Fair. Browne’s latest project is a poetry collection responding to the impact of mass incarceration on women and children: I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love (Haymarket Books), She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jive Poetic is a writer, organizer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in Media Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute. In 2017 Jive was the first recipient of the John Morning Award for Art and Service. He is the founder of Insurgent Poets Society, Carnival Slam: Cultural Exchange, and co-founder of the Brooklyn Poetry Slam. His work has been showcased on season four of TVONE’s Lexus Verses and Flow, PBS NewsHour, and BET. International recognition and support for his work has come from the British Arts Council; US Embassies in Australia, Brazil, and Poland; and the Minister Of Culture in Antigua and Barbuda. He has received fellowships from Air Serenbe and Rhode Island Writers Colony, and when he is not on tour or hosting, he teaches poetry and hip hop workshops to at risk youth in New York City and the surrounding area.
Crystal Valentine is a nationally and internationally acclaimed poet who has traveled across seas performing on platforms in Paris, Brazil, Botswana, South Africa and elsewhere. She was named Glamour Magazine’s 2016 College Woman of the Year, Teen Vogue’s Rising Young Black Thought Leader, and was the recipient of the National Conference of College Women Student Leaders Woman’s Distinction Award. A Callaloo Fellow and former New York City Youth Poet Laureate, Crystal’s work has been featured on programming for MSNBC, Blavity, Button Poetry, BET, CNN, The New York Daily News and more. She earned her B.A in Psychology at New York University, where she returned to also earn her MFA in poetry.Crystal is a generator and fierce protector of black joy, and strongly believes that intersectionality is a key factor in liberation. As a queer, black, woman, a lot of her work revolves around bridging the ever present gap between her identities. Her goal is to provide a sanctuary within her poems that can be accessible to ALL black people: queer, trans, women, gender non conforming, disabled, poor, loud, angry, ghetto, for it is when all of these voices are present and accounted for that we can really begin the gruesome work of understanding and breaking down systematic oppression. Above all, Crystal loves her kin. She currently divides her time between curating writing workshops and working with Mass Poetry as the festival manager for the 2021 Massachusetts Festival. https://www.crystalvalentinepoetry.com
RC Weslowski is the 2021 Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award Winner, The 2016 Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award Winner and a Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and Victoria Spoken Word Festival Poet of Honour. RC is a Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion, and a 2 time World Cup of Poetry Slam Finalist. RC co hosts and produces Wax Poetic and Oh No Not Another Podcast podcasts. RC is the Artistic Director for Hullabaloo: The BC Youth Spoken Word Festival. RC’s first book of poetry, “My Soft Response to the Wars” is out on Write Bloody North Publishing. www.writebloodynorth.ca
