It is known...a woman denied her voice is like a candle without its flame...
It is known...a woman denied her voice is like a candle without its flame...
Stacy Dyson is a Black woman poet who explores/illuminates the life and times of the Black woman.
With shows in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, California, Nebraska, South Dakota, Louisiana, Colorado, and Texas, she has released six chapbooks and five CDs Her play FANNIE’S GIRLS: A 4-1-1 IN 5-PART ATTITUDE is a 2000 Colorado Women’s Playwriting Festival winner.
Former Poet Laureate for Imagination Celebration (Colorado Springs), CEO/lead poet of DragonsWing (Colorado Springs), and Page to Stage:Women's Voices (San Diego),
she is touring with her latest collections, LOVELY AND SUFFERING and FOLLOW ME ON THIS, and building TESORO one firesinger at a time.
IG:@saintraines
Jane SpokenWord yields her pen like a warriors sword to inspire change.
Her performances and collaborations include; Avant-Garde Maestro Cecil Taylor, The Nuyorican Poets Café with Nuyorican Poet Miguel Algarin, recording and performances with Beat Poet John Sinclair, HipHop musician/producer DJ Nastee & her partner Albey onBass.
She has authored two books of poetry w/art and accompanying music by co-author Albey onBass; 'Word Against the Machine' & 'Tragically Hip'
Her 3rd book 'Love & Light' is in the editing process.
She has been published in several anthologies:
Beat Generations 2021-2020-2019, Pandemic of Violence Anthology - North of Oxford Pub., Protest 2021 - Moonstone Anthology, The NYC Underground Poets & Artists Anthology - OhWow Press, Shadow of The Geode - Bonsia Press, Stars in the Fire & Palabras Luminosas - Rogue Scholars Express,
All about Jazz Best of 2016 - The Cecil Taylor Retrospective @ the Whitney Museum, 1st Place Award - The BeZine 100 Thousand Poets for Change,
Editor of Podcast & Interviews - Word City Monthly & Time of the Poet Republic
Instagram @janespokenword
Marissa Prada is a poet, author and spoken word artist, and publisher from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is polyamorous & a mother of two daughters. She loves books, authors, and advocates for poetry and the literary arts.
She began journaling in high school to cope with teenage stress and trauma. Poetry is the heart of her passion for the past 20 plus years and has seen her through surviving death twice in her life.
Marissa is the founder of Read or Green Books, a female-forward press that publishes many debut poetry collections. She authors "Poetography505" on Facebook and is the Creative Director for "The Word is Write" on Facebook & Instagram.
Marissa currently sits on the Board of Directors for The New Mexico State Poetry Society.
She has been included in We Don’t Break We Burn, poems of resilience, by MindWell Poetry Press, Milk and Honey, assembled by Samantha Swain, Touching Tongues, a Women’s Erotic Anthology, as well as multiple international poetry anthologies, magazines and journals. Her current collection of poetry, Conversations with Grief, is available for purchase through Read or Green Books. Her next collection, Barfing Up the Butterflies, will debut summer 2022.
https://www.facebook.com/marissaprada505
https://www.instagram.com/pradapaintingandpoetry
https://www.facebook.com/Poetography505
https://www.facebook.com/TheWordisWrite
https://www.fb.com/thewordiswrite/events
IG: @TheWordisWrite
https://www.facebook.com/ReadorGreenBooks.com
New Mexico State Poetry Society.
My books "Conversations with Grief" and
Also…“Touching Tongues” a Women’s Erotic Anthology
are available at https://www.readorgreenbooks.com
Jennifer K. Yancey, a.k.a. The Poet RoseGold, hails from “the real Gotham City” – a Bronx, New York native who discovered Poetry at 15 and began using it as a more creative way of communicating with the world. Coupled with her 20-year career as an Army photojournalist, Poet RoseGold knew how to capture the human condition in real time through her lens and record its consciousness with her pen.
She jokingly refers to her work as “Incendiary Redbone Poetry,” highlighting the injustices tarnishing the American landscape; spirituality; intimacy; self-love/Black love; mental health; and (past) life in the military. Poet RoseGold’s voice has crossed time zones virtually and in-person, through podcasts and numerous community engagements, including an appearance on the “red-dot stage” at TEDx Colorado Springs, in 2019. Poet RoseGold is also a member of TESORO – a newly-formed organization whose purpose is to hold safe space internationally for women “word-warriors” to “do their work.”
Poet RoseGold’s own work has been featured in several anthologies: Between a Laugh and a Tear (1991); Love Letters to Gaia (2021); The Cuddy Family Foundation For Veterans Poetry Journal Volume One and The Cuddy Family Foundation For Veterans Poetry Journal Volume Two (2021); and Rising Voices: Poems Toward A Social Justice Revolution (2022). Her debut Poetry book, Poetry Is A Love Language (But First, Lemme Tell You Something … ) is slated for a late 2022 release.
FB: The Poet RoseGold
IG: @thepoetrosegold
Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, or Diosa X, is a bilingual poet and educator with a bachelor’s in English and a master’s in Cross-Cultural Education. She has been published in both English and Spanish in Hispanic L.A.’s online magazine and L.A. Poet Society's Love Letters to 2020 and upcoming anthology, Refleshing, as well as Creative Juices: Pisces Publishing’s upcoming anthology, Once Upon a Poem. She has been a featured poet for the Panamanian International/ELA Film Festival; L.A. Poet Society; Pomona Art Walk; Sims Library; Mil Mujeres' La Otra Fil; Muzeo's Poetic Voices, Boca de Oro, La Feria de las Flores, Latinas in Hollywood’s Herstories; Alas de Mariposa; and Centro Cultural de Mexico’s Día de la Mujer. She published her first multilingual poetry collection in 2021, a book titled, A Church of My Own.
Website: www.diosax.net
IG: @diosa_xochiquetzalcoatl
Email: temachtianicitlali@gmail.com
Book link: http://thebp.site/316134
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/DiosaX
RED MEDUSA is an established spoken word artist and scholar who combines her learnings from her experiences as a Black, neurodiverse, educated, working-class woman and mother with her academic knowledge of health and social inequalities to deliver moving, visceral and disruptive poetry. Grounded in Black feminist theory, her exciting works have led to headlines at the famous Southbank Centre in London, the infamous She Grrrowls Festival, The Million Woman Rise March and published in Vogue and Forbes Magazines.
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Kimberly M Anderson also known as KMA is a “coloured” or mixed race poet from South Africa.
Coming from the small town of eShowe in KwaZulu-Natal, she found her voice through poetry and
started the Turning Pain into Power movement or journey as she calls it. Her poems speak of what it is
like being a coloured /mixed race woman in South Africa as well as other topics that take you on a
journey of consciousness and thought. She is also co-founder of #Iampoetry_Africa , a foundation that
guides poets on how to master their craft and to find healing through poetry. Her love for history has
also played a big role in influencing her writing and telling the stories of the ones before us.
"My name might be forgotten but may my teachings continue to live on so history is never repeated"
Facebook;
Kimberly Anderson
Turning Pain into Power
Instagram;
Kimberly_kma
Turningpain_intpower
Youtube;
K.m.a Kimberly Anderson Brown
Phynne~Belle is a poet, writer, and podcaster from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is also the host of the weekly PGN YouTube program, “The Poet’s Lighthouse.” To know more about what Phynne has been up to, check out https://linktr.ee/PhynneBelle
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Martina McGowan is a physician, poet, writer, artist, advocate, activist in the wars against social, racial, and sexual injustices.
Her debut poetry collection, “i am the rage,” was the 2021 International Book Award winner in the Social Change category, and Goodreads Choice Award Nominee.
Her work has been published internationally in literary magazines and anthologies. She is also a poetry editor and book reviewer.
My blog- https://MartinaMcGowan.com
Twitter, Instagram- martinamcgowan
FB, LinkedIn - MartinaMcGowanM
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.Phylisha Villanueva (Phylli V) is a spoken word artist from Yonkers, NY. She is first-generation Belizean-American multifaceted artist. Phylli V has been performing and teaching "Spoken word" for over ten years. Publications include Situationship n Tings and Pretty Girl Special and the following ekphrastic publications; Out of Africa, Fiber Plus, On your mark, and A Sarah Lawrence teen anthology. Featured performances include; John Jay University, NYU, SUNY Purchase, ArtsWestchester, Lehman College, BMCC, Potters house in Washington, DC, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Blue Door Art Center, to name a few. She is a teaching artist with Arts Westchester and is the first-ever Poet-in-Residence with Yonkers Arts.
Leonora Simonovis is a Venezuelan born poet, educator, and scholar who lives in San Diego, CA, on the unceded territory of the Kumeyaay Nation. Her poetry manuscript Study of the Raft was selected by final judge Sherwin Bitsui as the winner of the 2021 Colorado Prize for Poetry and was published by The Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University. She teachers Latin American literature and creative writing in Spanish at the University of San Diego.
IG @leosimonovis
Website: www.leosimonovis.com
Where to buy book: https://bookshop.org/books/study-of-the-raft/9781885635792
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Diane is a proud New Yorker of West Indian descent. Her creative endeavors began with modern dance choreography, blog talk radio hosting and continued by writing reviews/prose / poetic works, appearing in journals/anthogies and open mic performances with international peers.
Her published works and book reviews appear within a variety of publications including NHK Haiku Masters Gallery, “Love Letters to Gaia” and the “Bronx Council of the Arts Bronx Memoir Project Volumes IV and V.”
Always an active member of the National Writers Union, She presently serves on their International and Immigration Committee.
She appears in several venues which include the Nuyorican Poets Café, Art In the Basin, Creative Expressions, Unmesh (Mohitkar) Life, Phynnecabulary (Tricia De Jesus-Gutierrez), Between the Lines and They Call Me Mitch.
Diane also appears periodically in open mics hosted by the International Women's Writers Guild (IWWG).
She advocates for the National Writers Uunion's " Freelancing Isn't Free" legislation implementation..
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I am a Queer Massachusetts writer, I use poetry to share my experiences with grief, love, and life since the passing of my father.
Social media:
Ig: iron_resilience
Website: Arcadian-poetry.com
Cashapp: JiJiArcadia
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Ellen is a poet, artist, and educator, currently acting as a social media specialist for Moon Tide Press, a co-host of Two Idiots Peddling Poetry, and an editor of Freezeray Magazine. Her debut book, A Burning Lake of Paper Suns, was released in October 2021 with Moon Tide Press.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ellenwebrepoetry/
Instagram: @lnwebre
Two Idiots Peddling Poetry: http://www.poetryidiots.com
Moon Tide Press: https://www.moontidepress.com
Freezeray Magazine: http://www.freezeraypoetry.com
Christine Ponce-Diaz is a native of El Paso, Texas. She studies Music Education at the University of Texas at El Paso and currently teaches piano and Voice Lessons in person and on-line for a variety of locations, in addition to private lessons. She also performs at various locations around El Paso.
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Teresa E. Gallion is a seeker on a journey to work on unfolding spiritually in this present lifetime. Writing is a spiritual exercise for Teresa. Her passions are traveling the world and hiking the mountain and desert landscapes of the western United States. Her journeys into nature are nurtured by the Sufi poets Rumi and Hafiz. The land is sacred ground and her spiritual temple where she goes for quiet reflection and contemplation. She has published four books: Walking Sacred Ground, Contemplation in the High Desert, Chasing Light, a finalist in the 2013 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards and her most recent book, Scent of Love, a finalist in the 2021 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards. She has two CDs, On the Wings of the Wind and Poems from Chasing Light. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Website: http://teresagallion.yolasite.com/ Publisher: http://www.innerchildpress.com/teresa-e-gallion.php Quintessential Listening: http://tobtr.com/12119212 WNP Featured Reading: https://www.facebook.com/skailight8/videos/287996153138347 Review by Dr. Mary Dezember: https://www.marydezember.com/blog/2020/5/13/bliss-with-the-beloved-rumi-hafiz-and-teresa-e-gallion
Namu is just one human trying to find peace. She uses her poetry and other creative outlets in the hopes to help herself and other to find their own level of peace, what ever that might look like.
Namu has featured her poetry in her local communities in Perth, Western Australia, as well as nationally in Australia and internationally in zoom rooms around the world. She hopes to one day have the opportunity to present her poetry in person around the world.
Namu would also like to share a few fun facts about her:
1. Namu has 34 letters in her full name... 9 of which make up her first name and the remaining 25 make up her 4 other names... This is often why she prefers to go by Namu, so she doesn’t unnecessarily punish any new people she meets
2. Namu loves everything creative... dance was her first love but poetry, drawing, making things, singing or mostly anything that breathes creativity, has always been the part of life that has brought her the most joy.
3. Namu hails and adores her one and only god... Mickey Mouse
4. Namu is half human half horse… or as it’s most commonly known, a Sagittarius
5. Namu shares her house with one human, 2 dogs, 2 snakes, 1 lizard and a stuffed monkey named Monkey who she has loved since she was a baby.
6. Finally, Namu is often very quiet and likes to stay hidden when you first meet her, but will often become a bit of an oddball once you get to know her and will always try to make you feel welcomed.
You can find Namu on Instagram @igobyna
Shockie G is a Black, Lesbian, Spoken word Poet. Currently the regional Slam Champion in Pittsburgh PA, she has won multiple Slam competitions both online and in person. You can find samples of her work within Read or Green’s “Out Loud” LGBTQ Anthology and a previous self-published chapbook “Shattered Emotions Scattered Thoughts” . as well as her first book IN LIEU OF FLOWERS. You can catch her in and out of Open Mics, Workshops and other spaces that allow for connection with our communities.
Shockie G
IG: @shockieg_the_poet
Nazelah Jamison is a gifted poet, emcee, and vocalist who has learned from and graced the stage with some of the finest people in entertainment today. She has competed on and/or coached 12 National Slam teams; and has performed poetry & music across 3 continents. Until 2014, she hosted and co-produced The Oakland Poetry Slam & Open Mic, an on-going monthly poetry slam in Oakland, CA, as well as performing at venues around the SF Bay Area and the country. She has collaborated on music recording projects with the Rondo Brothers, and is embarking upon a career as a stand-up comedienne. Her first collection of poetry, evolutionary heart, was released by Nomadic Press in Fall 2016. Nazelah is well-known and beloved for her work with Spearhead and the French music group, Les Nubians, and her love of hip-hop translates onto the stage.
IG:supernaz_your_superfriend
Sylvia Cameron Telafaro, is an award winning fiction writer, poet, story teller & activist. She is the current President of The African American Writers and Artists, Inc. of San Diego and Membership Coordinator for The Friends of the Malcolm X Library.
Sylvia has completed three books of poetry; "Innovations, Illusions, Devices & Desires"; poetic expressions on family relationships, love, Inspirational, social injustice and a book of political poetry entitled, “A Diary of Pre-emptive Action and Occupation”; Home is where my poetry begins while all Eyes are on the Middle East. Sylvia has had poetry and short stories published in several magazines and anthologies, including SDSU School of Social Work Textbook: “Cultural Pluralism. She also was published in the Social Work Journal HBSE Special Edition for her award-winning piece on the Killing of Michael J. Brown.
Nicole Hernández Maguire is a Puerto Rican-Ukrainian poet from Queens, NY. A child of an illiterate father, she was determined from childhood to pursue writing and education, and earned Master’s degrees from New York University and the CUNY Graduate Center in English and Business, respectively. She currently teaches on the university level.
Nicole has been recognized and awarded for her volunteer work in her Queens community by various not-for-profit schools and a state senator. She performs regularly at open mics and is currently working on publishing her latest works. She is a proud mom of two.
OnyxH2O is a Texas-based writer, poet, spoken word artist and entrepreneur from California with a background in business, education and community relations. She has been honing her skills at storytelling through poetry since age eleven, has been a host of southern California open mics, currently co-hosts Prayer n' Poetry Open Mic on Instagram and is a traveling poet, writing herself free of past bondages in her first book of poetry.
Shane Manier is a Creative Coach, Visual Artist, Tedx Key Note Speaker, Trauma Informed Care Instructor, Poetry Mentor and National Spoken Word Poet based in the Charlotte Metro Region of NC. She is the founder of Guerilla Poets, a nonprofit art collective with branches in the US and UK. She is currently the Spoken Word and Arts Teaching Instructor for The Harvey B. Gantt Center, Henderson High School and Playing for Others as well as Center for Faith in the Arts current Artist in Residence. In 2011 she was the youngest poet to ever be inducted in the Poetry Council of North Carolina and served on board of CCAG Arts Collective of Cornelius North Carolina in 2017. She has been recognized as a National Poet performing with Respect Da Mic Slam Team from 2017-2020. In 2015 she released her first poetry album, “Bootstraps” and her first chapbook, “Fallen Heroes of the Awful Waffle” was published through Main Street Rag in 2017. She released her second album, “Carrier Pigeons” and poetry book “Divine Disturbances” in 2019 and 2020. Her full length poetry book “Road Hunger” was recently published June 2021.
Social Media Handles:
Website: www.shanemanier.com
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/shanemanierart
| https://www.instagram.com/shanemanier
Nonprofit: www.guerillapoets.com
Zedeka Poindexter is a Nebraska-born and raised writer and performer. In her work, she builds a historical record through poems and essays that draw on all five physical senses to connect with readers and listeners. By sharing stories of people in her community, Zedeka creates a relationship with audiences and guides them through the world as she sees and experiences it.
Zedeka is a 2022/23 Amplify Arts Public Impact Grant winner and a two-time fellow at Nebraska's Union for Contemporary Art. She has featured in performances at the John Beasley Theater, the Great Plains Theater Conference, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and Metropolitan Community College. In February 2022, Zedeka was named the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards performance poet of the year.
Her written work can be found in print and online anthologies, including The Metropolitan, Slamma Lamma Ding Dong: An Anthology of Nebraska Slam Poetry, and Alight: Best Loved Poems from the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam.
A Filipina American from New York now living in Portugal, Maureen P. Medina is the founder of Leave in Peace and a campaign strategist for Slaughter Free NYC. She advocates for both human and non-human animals and asserts that all oppression is connected. In alignment with the idea that none of us are free unless all of us are free, Maureen hopes to inspire the pursuit of collective liberation through her writing.
Maureen’s debut poetry collection, My Fears Out Loud, was published in July 2022 by Read or Green Books.
She hosts writing workshops with The Word is Write on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 1 pm EST; and is a guest host of Speak the Word workshops, which are on Saturdays at 6pm BST.
You can purchase My Fears Out Loud (and its matching shirt), and find her work and events on linktr.ee/MaureenPMedina.
Best-selling author, international speaker & educator, Sierra Melcher is founder of Red Thread Publishing LLC. She leads an all-female publishing company, with a mission to support 10,000 women to become successful published authors & thought-leaders. Offering world-class coaching & courses that focus on community, collaboration, and a uniquely feminine approach at every stage of the author process.
Sierra has a Master’s degree in education, has spoken & taught around the world. Originally from the United States, Sierra lives in Medellin, Colombia with her young daughter.
Vivianni Glass hatched from a hummingbird egg. Since then, her explorations have cut a wide path to include wildland firefighter, live model, art council board member, and farmer. As a compulsive creator, her work explores stories and spaces of ease for communities historically undervalued. She uses her poetry, short-stories, and visual art to consider the strange marriage holding grief and humor together. She is driven by the desire to amplify the wonder of her family and friends as accurately as possible.
She lives with a chorus of lenient houseplants in St. Louis, MO. Her written work was recently selected in the LeVar Burton Reads ‘Origins & Encounters’ competition and can be found on Tor.com.
Linda Thai is a trauma therapist, storyteller and former child refugee.
Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Fairbanks, Alaska, she shares stories from her life that speak into the universal themes of love and loss that are interwoven with the complex impacts of traumatic displacement, race, ethnicity and culture.
Chris Dickinson, retired teacher, mentor of adolescents and novice grandmother, lives with
her husband in Lincolnshire UK. Reading is her favourite activity for relaxation, escapism
and to learn more about how others live their lives. Writing is a recurring itch which has to
be scratched. For decades she wrote secretively but nowadays she thinks, ‘if not now, when?" and started reading her words at Spalding Red Wine Writers Group and the local folk club.
fThe wonderful poets she has met on line especially Cathy Carson and Gary Huskisson- have been a revelation and a constant source of encouragement.
She is active on the open mic evoking the day-to-day details that throw light on our human experience. Passionate about justice and equality, she begins most
days with a rant whilst reading the morning paper; after this she is calm enough to face the day.
Chris Dickinson’s poetry was first published in Spokes in 1993 , most recently in The North
and she has contributed with over 70 other poets over 70 years old to Fin Hall’s anthology ‘I Ache in Places I used to Play’. She says:
‘In a life which can seem harsh and unfair, looking into the mirrors we hold up to scrutinise our
experiences of family and friends, the sorrow, love and all the emotions between, is a comfort and
a blessing. The community of open mic poets has inspired me to share many memories which I
hope will resonate with the thoughts of others . May we never tire in our pursuit of the right words
and in sharing the discoveries which promote empathy, deepen our understanding and give us joy
in one another’.
Track Chris down on Facebook.
RAY JANE is a Black female poet born in Brooklyn and raised in Far Rockaway Queens. She uses her poetry to lift herself and other women of color. Always aiming to strengthen her voice, RayJane won the Verb Benders slam poetry team’s inaugural poetry slam and was published in Lalibreta.online an online poetry journal for Women in Creative Rebellion (2021, 2022). She has participated in poetic writing workshops focused on empowering women and served as contributing editor for the anthology Love Letters to Gaia (2021). She has also moderated her own workshops with ¡Oyé Group! Poet’s Corner (2021 and 2022), Art Defined Inc (2022, 2023), and runs her own open mics as the host of The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Thursday Night Online Open mic (2022) and for The Word Is Write. You can hear more of how she uses her voice in over 50 recorded poems on SoundCloud
ASHLEY MOYO is an award winning poet, performer andTEDx speaker from South Africa. Her body of work acts as aid to begin conversations of healing and reflection with oneself. In 2020 she was apart of the (FWWMUN) Future We Want Model United Nation in New York City, where poetry was proposed as a medium to policy making for artists’ mental health. She is the Narowbi Slam champion 2022, TEWOP Slam champion 2022 and Night Embassy Slam champion 2022 sponsored by Jägermeister. Her body of work has been heard at book and art festivals. Most of her publications can be found on ODD MAG.
Rita goes by ‘The Rah Poet’ meaning the ‘Pathway of the Poet’ in Farsi and meaning Raw AF poet in English. After being in love with poetry for decades, she starting writing and performing spoken word poetry in 2021 and is publishing her first book in the Summer of 2023. She creates pieces that range from female empowerment, love, heartbreak, to sensuality and seeking joy. She also works in Marketing and has an MBA from the USC Marshal School of Business.
BeeYonka is an artist who resides in the Bay Area. As an Antioch native with a mixed ethnic background, she uses various forms of art — through music, writing, poetry, and spoken word as a platform to mention topics she feels should be a part of everyday conversation.
Born in California as a 1st generation Fil-Am with English being a second language, finding her voice wasn’t always easy. As a Filipino-Spanish woman, BeeYonka easily learned one lesson from adversity: Even though you know your roots, sometimes the same water your culture feeds you is the same water that drowns you. Through her different platforms of writing, she specializes in a variety of odes to her trauma and culture for creating the healing bittersweet poet she is today. With a background in education and a degree from SFSU, her personal philosophy is: “It’s all relative and you are validated.”
BeeYonka has always been an educator at heart. She hosted her first workshop with Moroccan Poets where she realized how well rounded of a poet she could be. BeeYonka has performed in many venues including, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, local open mics around the East Bay, was a featured poet in A Time to Arrive, and even showcased in an AAPI Celebration with many poets and storytellers.
To follow and learn more about BeeYonka, visit her Instagram page @Bee.yonkaaa where she provides live updates on her writing projects. She currently has a Patreon in the works releasing on June 17th 2023. You can also donate to her artist fund via Venmo: @BeeYonkaaa.
Email| bee.yonkaaa@gmail.com
Instagram/TikTok| @bee.yonkaaa
Lara has self-produced four collections of original music. Patchwork, with Mandy Woods, included 4 works in 1997. Lara’s original song Want You Near was selected for a highlighted performance at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1998. Paths of Memory was completed in 2002 with 14 original songs. Heartbeats was released in 2008 with 9 new tunes. The Journey Through, Songs from My View was released May 26, 2023, and is available now on Apple Music and all streaming platforms. Lara started writing songs and poems as a young girl, received her first guitar at age 10, and began performing as a teenager. Over the years she has performed in clubs, university venues, music festivals, and weddings. She has performed internationally in England, France, Greece, and is currently performing in Zoom music sessions around the world. Her memorable melodies and meaningful lyrics touch hearts and souls alike. Music and writing have always been her passion.
Poet/Playwright/Multi-percussionist/Photographer/Teacher
AVOTCJA has been published in English & Spanish in the USA, Mexico & Europe. She’s an award-winning Poet & multi-instrumentalist. She’s a popular Bay Area DJ & Radio Personality & leader of the group “Avotcja & Modúpue” (The Bay Area Blues Society’s Jazz Group Of The Year in 2005 & 2010), facilitates La Palabra Musical (The Music of The Word) the longest running Multi-lingual Poetry Series in Oakland, CA. Avotcja teaches Creative Writing & Drama & is a proud member of DAMO (Disability Advocates Of Minorities Org.), PEN Oakland, alumni of California Poets In The Schools & is an ASCAP recording artist. Her latest Book is “With Every Step I Take 2” (Taurean Horn) AVOTCJA P.O. Box 8757 Emeryville, CA 94662-8757 Website: www.Avotcja.org
Shannon (SK) Lockhart (she/they/ella/elle) was born in Louisville, KY but spent most of her adulthood working in the field of human rights as a clinical social worker in Chicago, El Salvador, Guatemala and now back in Louisville, KY.
She learned early that sometimes the only way to fight injustice, manage pain, and find hope is to rebel through art that challenges the system, names truths, and demands change. She writes and draws because she cannot heal otherwise. Shannon has published her work in several print anthologies with Writing for Peace, Women’s Spiritual Poetry, and online through Rebelle Society. Her first full collection, “Wild Beauty: Breathing Through the Storm” was self-published in October 2015 and is available on Amazon.
Shannon's public artistic journey began in late 2013 when drawings and poems began to pour out spontaneously, because she could no longer contain them. They became her meditations, her ground zero and her hearth- a time and space to empty/fill herself even as she explored past traumas, captured stories of survivors, and integrated her bilingual world into a visual and spoken narrative.
She currently has a private therapy practice in Louisville, working exclusively with undocumented immigrants, social activists, asylum-seekers, survivors of human trafficking, and other folx who live in the intersection of various cultures and identities that are otherwise erased by dominant culture.
Kelly Mary McAllister moves through the world as a fat, queer, and disabled woman. She lives in a shoebox in the Toronto sky with a little black dog. Her work has appeared in Canthius Magazine, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, The Closed Eye Open, TheDoor is a Jar Magazine and others. She can be found at www.KellyMaryMcAllister.ca
Edith Blackbird is a queer trilingual writer/poet/performer with a “Declamation Style” from Mexico. Her writing journey began in elementary school participating in local events like “Civil Mondays” writing patriotic poems to recite for government officials. She practiced traditional folklore dance for over ten years, performed in plays and declaimed poetry in public.
In April 2004, she won second place in a statewide poetry contest. In June 2005, she participated in the nationwide poetry contest, “XIII Encuentro Nacional Estudiantil INTERTECMAR” where she won second place. In May 2007, The Sonora University awarded her an honorable mention in their literary regional contest and was published in their anthology Realidad Aleatoria.
Now in the USA, she attends live events sharing her art.
Edith was part of a poetry reading with some local poets in KOOP radio hosted by Greg Ciotti in January 2020.
She has been featured (2018) and published in the Di-vêrsé-city anthology by The Austin Poetry Society in 2020. In October 2020, was featured in the “Lion and Pirate” event facilitated by Malvern Books, in the Waterfront Immersive Arts Festival in 2020 and 2021, and by Pastiche House in 2021 as well.
Edith was published in the SINEW: 10 Years of Poetry in The Brew Anthology. Also published in the Touching Tongues Women’s Erotic Anthology (2021) and in Out Loud: An LGBTQ Literary Art Anthology in 2022 by Read or Green Books. In September 2023, she was featured in the New Mexico Poetry Summit alongside fellow international poets.
Edith co-hosts a monthly virtual event called Lenguas that promotes cultural diversity and art since February 2021.
a pearl in this diamond world … Josephine LoRe has shared her poetry live and in global zoom-rooms. Her words have been put to music, danced, interpreted in ASL, and integrated into visual art. She has two collections, Unity and the Calgary Herald Bestseller The Cowichan Series, and has been published in literary magazines and anthologies in fifteen countries and five languages. Her poem “Enough” was selected for a Public Service Announcement for Feed the Children (https://www.accesswire.com/780566/feed-the-children-launches-new-psa-sharing-a-vision-of-hope-inspiring-action-through-poetry-to-help-end-childhood-hunger)
Josephine respectfully acknowledges that she lives and creates on the ancestral and traditional lands of the Piikani, Siksika, Kainai, Tsuut'ina and Nakota peoples.
Carolyn L. Robinson is a multi-talented writer, actress, and performing spoken word artist who hails from Baltimore, MD. She believes in keeping the arts alive and to that end started her own performing arts program called All That Drama Productions in 2005. As part of this program, she teaches writing workshops, puppetry, sign language and coaches spoken word performers. Carolyn has published eight books to date and contributes all of her talent and creativity to God. She continues to look for ways to be creative by teaming with other talented performers to unleash the greatness that always happens when you use all the talent that you are born with. She recently was asked "What is poetry to you? and her response was "Poetry is life-written. It's all the experiences and emotions that you experience every single day, written out on the page or spoken out loud." Carolyn lives in Baltimore and is the proud mother of three adult children. She enjoys photography, traveling and anything that involves making something from nothing. You can follow her on IG at LovePoet18 or find her on FaceBook at Carolyn L. Robinson/Author or at All That Drama Productions. She is happy to be a part of the brave women of TESORO who use their voices to change the world. Her email is allthatdrama418@yahoo.com.wn text and edit me. It's easy.
Get to Know Us
Nona Lea’s writing leans to haunting, grotesque, and surrealist, influenced by southern gothic, childhood trauma, ecology, and a neurodivergent mindscape. When she isn’t writing essays on ecology, literature, or mythos, she works on one of three poetry collections. Her previously published work can be found in Delta Literary Journal, twoheadedpress, redrosethorns, Koru, and Mayari Literature. Lea’s future aspirations are attending the Stonecoast MFA program, growing a grimoire, and learning how to drawing manga. She facilitates workshops with Speak The Word every first Saturday and on select Tuesdays. Sometimes, her maltipoo appears on Zoom open mics for snuggles.
Website: https://nonaleaauthor.wixsite.com/welcometomyhead
IG: @poet_lea
Substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/welcometomyhead?r=25k1ej&utm_medium=ios
Email: nonalea.author@gmail.com
Gabriella Rubin is a poet from Staten Island, NY of Italian and Jewish descent. Gabriella’s core was built through her experiences as a former college and professional basketball player. Her poetry path began just a few years ago in the jungles of Tulum, Mexico at a time where she was searching for who she was apart from basketball. In Tulum, she founded the Haus of Expression to create a poetry club for individuals at all different stages on their journey. She has run 50+ workshops and has hosted 15+ shows. Gabriella successfully founded and ran a show called The Flo Show in Tulum Mexico and currently runs shows in New York. She is a 2x off broadway poet and has performed 70+ in multiple states and countries. The Haus of Expression poetry club was featured in the 2022 and 2023 NYC Poetry Festival.
By day Gabriella is an accountant with a love for business and innovation. By night, poetry courses through her veins like an electric bolt, a force that can not be resisted. God and her family are at the center of her world as she reaches for the stars.