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YourWords STL and Young Chicago Authors (YCA) will be gathering poets, schools, organizations, and activists as we explore slam poetry as a vehicle for youth empowerment in St. Louis.
Acclaimed poets and leaders of Young Chicago Authors, Nate Marshall and Kevin Coval, will each perform, as well as discuss Louder Than a Bomb programming, workshops, and festivals. Louder Than a Bomb is the largest poetry festival in the world, in over 110 schools in Chicago, and more than 10 cities around the world. We hope that their work will inspire individuals to come together and continue to build programming for those who can most benefit from mentorship and exploration of slam poetry in St. Louis.
Cocktails and appetizers will start at 7:00 PM. Our program will begin at 7:30 PM. We are honored to present youth poets to start the show. Following Kevin and Nate's performances, we will screen the award-winning documentary, Louder Than a Bomb.
Appetizers will be provided and drinks can be purchased from Magnolia Cafe. This show is open to high-school students as well!
Nate Marshall is from the South Side of Chicago. He is the author of Wild Hundreds and an editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Wild Hundreds has been honored with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s award for Poetry Book of the Year and The Great Lakes College Association’s New Writer Award. His last rap album, Grown came out in 2015 with his group Daily Lyrical Product. Nate is a member of The Dark Noise Collective. He completed a B.A. in English and African-American Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at The University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers' Program. Nate has received fellowships from Cave Canem, The Poetry Foundation, and The University of Michigan. He is the Director of National Programs for Louder Than A Bomb Youth Poetry Festival and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northwestern University.
Kevin Coval is the poet/author/editor of seven books including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop and the play, This is Modern Art, co-written with Idris Goodwin. Founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival and the Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors, Coval teaches hip-hop aesthetics at The University of Illinois-Chicago, is a 4x HBO Def Poet and has written for a wide variety of publications including CNN & Fake Shore Drive. The Chicago Tribune has called him “the voice of the new Chicago” and the Boston Globe says he's “the city’s unofficial poet laureate”. Coval’s forthcoming collection of poems, A People's History of Chicago drops in the Spring of 2017 on Haymarket Books.
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