Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is Mumbo Jumbo (1972), a sprawling and unorthodox novel set in 1920s New York.
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May 1, 1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
Sherley Anne Williams was an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, jazz poet, playwright and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community.
Christopher Abani is a Nigerian-American and Los Angeles- based author. He says he is part of a new generation of Nigerian writers working to convey to an English-speaking audience the experience of those born and raised in "that troubled African nation".
Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program.
"Where I Wanna Be" is a song by American R&B singer Donell Jones. It was written and produced by Jones and Kyle West for his same-titled second album (1999). Released as the album's fourth and final single, the song charted at number Twenty nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, marking his second top five hit on the latter chart. A sequel to the song titled "Where You Are " appeared on Jones' next album Life Goes On in 2002. The track has significantly influenced the R&B genre, evident in its widespread sampling by prominent artists. Notably, in 2017, singer Mariah Carey incorporated elements of the song into her single "I Don't", featuring rapper YG.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature. She has won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. Additionally, she has been named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends".
Terrance Hayes is an American poet and educator who has published seven poetry collections. His 2010 collection, Lighthead, won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2010. In September 2014, he was one of 21 recipients of a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, awarded to individuals who show outstanding creativity in their work.
Kim Roberts is an American poet, editor, and literary historian who lives in Washington, D.C.
Fatimah Nyeema Warner, known professionally as Noname, is an American rapper, poet, and record producer. Since 2019, she has run the Noname Book Club, which focuses on radical texts by authors of color. She is also one third of the musical supergroup Ghetto Sage with the rappers Smino and Saba.
Danez Smith is a poet, writer and performer from St. Paul, Minnesota. They are queer, non-binary and HIV-positive. They are the author of the poetry collections [insert] Boy and Don't Call Us Dead: Poems, both of which have received multiple awards. Their most recent poetry collection Homie was published on January 21, 2020.
Fatimah Asghar is a South Asian American poet, director and screenwriter. Co-creator and writer for the Emmy-nominated webseries Brown Girls, their work has appeared in Poetry, Gulf Coast, BuzzFeed Reader, The Margins, The Offing, Academy of American Poets, and other publications.
Britteney Black Rose Kapri is a Chicago-based author, educator, activist and poet, performer, and playwright.
Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation called "the most-viewed slam performance in history."
Aziza Danielle Bailey Barnes is an American poet. Barnes frequently performs slam poetry and has performed at the Da Poetry Lounge, Urban Word NYC, PBS NewsHour and Nuyoricans Poets Cafe.
Legacy! Legacy! is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter and poet Jamila Woods, released on May 10, 2019, by Jagjaguwar. Woods supported the album with her own concert tour, along with performing as the opening act for the rapper Common's tour in 2019 and the singer Raphael Saadiq's 2020 Jimmy Lee Tour.
Maya Washington is an American filmmaker, actress, playwright, poet, writer, visualist, and arts educator. With a bachelor of arts in theatre from the University of Southern California and a master of fine arts in creative writing from Hamline University, Washington has garnered awards fromJerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Minnesota Film and Television, and many more. Her scholarship and creative projects approach issues of diversity and inclusion. Her film work has had a global reach, in Toronto, Budapest, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Rome.
Heavn is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Jamila Woods. It was released on July 15, 2016 through Jagjaguwar.
Ariana Brown is an American spoken word poet from Texas. In 2014, she was part of a winning team at the national collegiate poetry slam. Ariana Brown has won the “Best Poet” award twice at the same event. She is also a two-time recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize. She published her debut poetry chapbook, Sana Sana, with Game Over Books in early 2020.
Porsha Olayiwola is a Black American poet based in Boston, Massachusetts.
