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Naa Deedei Armah is a Ghanaian poet who lives and works as an accountant in London. She has been writing poetry for the past 12 years. She is a member of the Poetry Society (UK) and Association of Poets, Ghana. Poetry is her passion and her writing covers a wide range of subjects and styles.. She loves singing and enjoys jazz.
Aym is an Oxford-based performance poet and slammer whose been treading the boards for a couple of years. He was the first ever winner of the Hammer & Tongue Slam!, is the current Farrago South London Slam! champ and was also runner-up in the 2004 Farrago London Slam! final. He is also a member of the Hammer & Tongue Fluid Group. This is his first ever publication, so he is really excited about it! He has recently finished the production of his first CD called Poetically Motivated. He is actively looking for gigging opportunities, so can be contacted at aympoetry@hotmail.com or at http://aympoetry.blogspot.com
mahogany l. browne: single mother. full time touring poet. 2004 grand slam champ Louder Arts/Union Square. author of Thin Skin: a collection of poems and essays and 3 albums including the international hit Black Secret Soul. when she isn't touring and attending PTA meetings, she works with underprivileged youth, teen parents and young offenders attempting to save the world, one poem at a time.
www.mobrowne.com
Ysabelle Cheung: I have writing been poetry for around five years now and have yet to finish the many novelettes I have started. Fleur Adcock is a poet I find extremely inspiring, as well as Charles Baudeleire. The best writing moments are on days where music seems to move me to write, just after the sun is in its hottest moment, or when the morning comes early and the air is fresh. These elements inspire me. I normally write free verse - I express myself better then.
Michelle Dabrowski is a Canadian writer/performer currently finishing a degree in Creative Writting at Concordia University in Montreal. After living in London and slamming in various venues around the city she has been inspired to start her own set of slam events called 'The Verse Pipe'. She is also in the process of creating a zine with writers and illustrators from all over the globe. If you would like to submit anything to it email her at waterdancinginaglasshalffull@yahoo.co.uk
Kahn Davison is from Detroit and is the author of the spiritual “My Inspirations Come From” and the political “Wake up, Look, and Listen” and the romantic “The art of making love. He is a former art columnist for The Gazette News, and Arts and Entertainment editor for the Michigan Citizen, and current music reporter for the Michigan Metro Times. His work has been featured in The Alabama Poetry, The Entoitist, Society and The Litchfield Review.
Liam Gallimore-Wells: Following his literary tour of China Liam Gallimore-Wells appeared as a featured writer on the highly successful Tell Tales UK tour. Since supporting Linton Kwesi Johnson at the 2002 Bristol International Poetry Festival his short fiction has been showcased live on the ExCommunicate Literary Tour. Several of his short stories have been published in literary journals such as iQ and Decode. His debut collection of short stories will be published by Intellect Books in Spring 2005 and with the assistance of an Arts Council England bursary he is currently working on his first novel. His spoken word EP Comaprose - produced under the pseudonym Mezmerik - will be released on Underconstruction Records in the New Year.
Sonya Hallet is an18yr old A-level student studying English, history and theatre studies in Central London. Previously published in Young Writer magazine and a couple of 'youth poetry' anthologies Sonya reads/performs at Poetry Unplugged, Farrago and Borders Open Mic.
Elizabeth Haruna, both poet and author was born on November 1st 1984 in Ilorin, Nigeria and moved to London at an early age. She developed an early love of poetry that has led to her present career. In 2003 Elizabeth produced a self-published pamphlet of poems, “Therapy”. To her resume she can add writer, singer, dancer, editor, ambassador and public speaking. She hopes to pursue a career in poetry. (dreampoetryworks.com)
Peter Kahn: After a two-year stint teaching and performing in London, Peter is now back in Chicago as the Spoken Word Poetry and Black Literature Educator and Project Coordinator at Oak Park/River Forest High School. His students inspired him to start writing poetry while London's Malika's Kitchen writing collective helped him extract his clichés and make him a poet. Peter is the founder and co-sponsor of his high school's Spoken Word Club--the largest of its kind-and the co-founder of the Inner-London Teen Poetry Slam. He also started a Chicago branch of Malika's Kitchen and helped organize an
international Malika's Kitchen exchange.
Sheree Mack: Born in England, to a Trinidadian father and mother of Ghanaian descent; Sheree Mack is in her early thirties, recently married with a 6 year old son. After teaching English for seven years in various places around the country, she has decided to hang up her red pen and register and devote all her time to writing. She is the creator and coordinator of identity on tyne, the only group in the North East providing a space exclusively for writers of colour. She’s a poet at heart but now thinks it’s time to diversify. She currently lives in Newcastle upon-Tyne
Chinwe Madubuike is a US-born Nigerian writer and ‘poet-nouveau’. She is currently working on a collection of short stories while completing a post-graduate degree at the London School of Economics. Chinwe also travels regularly to Africa, Asia and the Middle East to work on health issues (mainly HIV/AIDs prevention).
Klorkor Okai was born in Iowa City, Iowa to Ghanaian parents and raised in Accra, Ghana with four sisters. She developed a love for writing and subsequently poetry with a lot of inspiration from her poet father. Klorkor began writing as a teenager and has amassed a huge collection. She completed her BA degree in Political Science and History at Temple University in May 2003 magna cum laude with distinction in both majors. While at Temple, she continued to write and perform her poetry in and around Philadelphia. In April 2004 she was a featured poet on the premier Philadelphia radio station Power 99fm’s show, Inner City Blues with Tiffany Bacon. Klorkor currently works in the public sector, but continues to write and perform poetry.
Maurice Oliver: After almost a decade of working as a freelance photographer in Europe, Maurice Oliver returned to America in 1990 to work for the Los Angeles Times. A lifelong dream of travelling around the world, and the experience of keeping a journal led to his poetic ambition. His poetry has appeared in several magazines and journals including; The Potomac Journal, Circle Magazine, Somewhat Magazine, Retort Magazine(Aus.), StrideMagazine(UK), Taj Mahal Review(India), and online at ink-mag.com, tmpoetry.com, diceybrown.com, deepcleveland.com, writethis.com, readingdivas.com, dash30dash.com, and will appear in Fall 2004 issues of subtletea.com, poesiamag.com and evasion.co.nz(New Zealand). Maurice presently resides in Portland, Oregon, where he works as a tutor.
Baden Prince is a writer of poetry, fiction and autobiographical prose, exploring the links between personal histories and wider social and political issues. His writing draws on the richness of his Afro-Caribbean heritage, as well as his experiences of growing up in Britain, where he has lived since the age of fifteen. Baden is an established artist on the performance poetry scene, well known to London audiences and with a growing reputation elsewhere, notably Amsterdam. He is also the promoter and host of “Speakeasy,” a dynamic and popular monthly poetry/spoken word event based in north London. Writer, poet and performer and latterly, grandfather!
Sonya Renee had the honor of representing DC as the newest team member of the 2004 D.C./ Baltimore National Slam Team and beat out 350 competing poets from across the United States and abroad to become the 2004 PSI National Slam Champion. After her debut on the Washington, D.C. poetry scene in April of 2003 she performed on stages all over the United States sharing her own unique brand of “Reality Rub” poetry. Sonya’s mixture of humor, reality and a pinch of big black girl sass makes each listener feel like they’re having a Saturday afternoon talk with a best friend or the woman of their dreams. www.sonyareneeis.com
Jacob Sam-La Rose is a poet, playwright and educator of Guyanese parentage. A former Poet-in-Residence at BBC London, he is a touring writer with the British Council, including appearances at Museum of Modern Art (Finland) and Mylos Theatre, Greece. He directs and oversees a range of creative writing initiatives, including the London Teenage Poetry SLAM, and has worked in conjunction with the National Theatre, Spread the Word, the Barbican and Apples & Snakes to deliver creative writing and educational programmes. His work has been featured in Velocity: The Best of Apples & Snakes, Sable Litmag and Bolz magazine, among others. He's currently working on a hip-hop musical, due to be produced mid-2005.
Odelia Schaare is a 29 year old from New Zealand who is currently teaching English full time in North West London whilst studying part-time for a creative art diploma, penning dodgy poetry, drinking rough coffee and pretending to be a liberal bohemian! Fav pastimes include: eating, sleeping, travelling, reading, and long, long, discussions accompanied by large quantities of red wine, good food and argumentative companions!
Kadija Sesay is a literary activist, editor and publisher, of Sierra Leonean descent. She is the founder/managing editor of SABLE LitMag and has won several awards for her work in the creative arts. She has edited anthologies of work by writers of African and Asian descent in drama, poetry and fiction, including IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britian with Courttia Newland and has had her own work published and broadcast in the USA, UK and Africa, She is a George Bell Fellow, General Secretary of African Writer’s Abroad (AWA) and In 2001-2002, she completed the inaugural year of the Vilar Fellowship in Performing Arts Management at the J.F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC. She is currently editing two books ‘Write Black, Write British’ (Hansib), an anthology of Black British Writers and ‘New African Writers’ (Picador Africa), an anthology of new writers of African parentage. www.sablelitmag.org
Priscilla Sim is a UK poet of Chinese heritage currently working on her first collection of poetry, Paper Perfect.
Desmond Swords firmly believes that he has a direct bloodline to the O'Dailaigh Fili, who were hereditary poets to the powers that be in South Munster, up until the Earls of Desmond were snuffed out during the Gaelic reordering of Ireland. His target status as a word merchant is Misty Billy Boy Butler, as Desmond is also prone to bouts of high theosophical weirdness, which he attributes to a sighting of the Tuatha De Danann, in transit through the Grove, Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill London, N8 on millennium eve.
Truth Thomas is a musician and poet from Washington, DC. Musically, Thomas incorporates a wide range of musical expression from the African Diaspora, and beyond to form his own personal artistic expression. In his poetry, he strives to marry the crafts of "page and stage " in an introspective style that is both spiritual and political.
Gemma Weekes studied at Brunel University. She is a poet, singer, songwriter and freelance journalist. Although a relative newcomer, her spiky, staccato style gives her an enormous stage presence, which crackles with electric energy. Gemma’s work has been published in the recent Kin Anthology of New Fiction by Black and Asian Women and she just finished touring with Tell Tales. http://misfitmusic.tripod.com/
Olu Butterfly Woods: This West African ballet dancer and funky philosopher left a promising career as a mechanical engineer to pursue a space in the independent soul movement where Olu Butterfly Woods has become a leader. Since then she has co-founded Poetry for The People Baltimore, Organic Soul Tuesdays: an artist development series, published an award-winning collection of poems: The Revenge of Dandelions, and toured internationally with the band, Fertile Ground. Originally from Nigeria, St. Croix, and DC, she currently resides in Baltimore where she is working on her second book: Jupiter Memoirs. www.blackoutstudios.com
Yong Shu Hoong: Born in 1966 in Singapore, Shu holds a Computer Science degree from the National University of Singapore and an MBA from Texas A&M University at College Station. His debut, Isaac (1997, re-released as Isaac Revisited in 2001), was adapted from a poetry collection shortlisted for the 1995 Singapore Literature Prize. His second book, dowhile, was published in 2002. Shu is the organiser of the monthly subTEXT reading in Singapore and has participated in readings and literary festivals held in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, England and the United States of America. He is looking forward to the publication of his new book, Frottage, in early 2005.