This week we present the Southern Fried Poetry Slam Winners. Southern Fried is a 23 year arts festival celebrating poetry, spoken word and slam. The name alone evokes a sense of home cooked meals and good ol’ Southern food, and Southern Fried shares the absolute best southern offerings-- hospitality, comfort and tradition. @WANPoetry writeaboutnowpoetry.com youtube.com/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com Hosted by Davis Land. davisland.info Southern Fried recorded in Little...

This week we present Tova Charles and Zai Sadler. Nova and Zai are from Austin, Texas. You can find them online at http://tovacharlespoetry.tumblr.com/ and http://zaispitstruth.bandcamp.com/ @WANPoetry writeaboutnowpoetry.com youtube.com/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com Hosted by Davis Land. davisland.info Tova and Zai’s performance recorded at AvantGarden in Houston, TX. Recorded and Arranged at WCAI in Woods Hole, MA Music from the FMA from Anitek...

This week we present Element 615. Hailing from Texas, he speaks in a cadence that does not break down across barriers of race, age or geography. Soulful stanzas echoing something between Coltrane and Cyrano, Element 615 is unapologetically romantic, devoid of pretension, and delightfully sensual. His work promotes thought as a natural bi-product of itself, while unambiguously uniting his audience with his honest, compassionate take on the human experience. Find him at...

This week we present Button Poetry. Sam Cook, Dylan Garity, and Hieu Minh Nguyen are from Button Poetry. Button produces and distributes poetry media, including: video from local and national events, chapbooks, collaborative audio recordings, scholarship and criticism, and many other products. Find them at http://buttonpoetry.com @WANPoetry writeaboutnowpoetry.com youtube.com/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com Hosted by Davis Land. davisland.info Button's performance...

This week we present poet Neil Hilborn. Neil Hilborn is a College National Poetry Slam champion, and a 2011 graduate with honors from Macalester College with a degree in Creative Writing. His debut full-length book, Our Numbered Days, is now available, as well as his chapbook, Clatter. Neil was a member of the 2011 Macalester Poetry Slam team, which ranked first in the nation at the 2011 College National Poetry Slam. He co-coached the 2012 Macalester team, leading them to a second place...

This week we present poet Pages Matam. Pages Matam is a Cameroonian artist residing in the D.C. metropolitan area. He is a Write Bloody author, Callaloo fellow, 2014 National poetry slam champion and winner of Beltway Poetry Quarterly's Best New Book of 2014. Pages is a proud gummy bear elitist, bowtie enthusiast, professional hugger and anime fanatic. When he takes stage – as a performer, educator, or activist for immigration and surviving sexual trauma – be prepared to be taken on an...

This week we present poet Zach Caballero. Poet. Organizer. Energy Enthusiast. Mover & Shaker. Professional Optimist. Bokononist. Co-Founder of Spitshine Poetry. Law Student South Texas College of Law. @CabbythePoet @WANPoetry writeaboutnowpoetry.com youtube.com/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com Hosted by Davis Land. davisland.info Zach Caballero's performance recorded at AvantGarden in Houston, TX. Recorded and Arranged at WCAI in Woods Hole, MA Music from the FMA from...

This week we present poet Arati Warrier. Arati Warrier was a member of the 2013 and 2014 They Speak Austin Youth Slam Teams and has been a member of UT Spitshine Poetry Slam since the fall of 2012. She represented UT, Austin at the national collegiate poetry slam in 2014, winning 1st place and the title of Best Poem and in 2015, where the team placed 13th and was awarded Best Writing for a Team. She has performed and led workshops across Texas. Arati is a third year English and Asian American...

This week we present poet FreeQuency. Born in Kenya in 1991 as Mwende Katwiwa, FreeQuency is a spoken word artist living, loving and working in New Orleans, LA since 2009. The daughter of two lifelong educators, FreeQuency was raised believing in the power at the intersection of education, art, service and activism. Known for her social justice work and poetry, FreeQuency has been described as 'challenging', 'dynamic', and it has been said on numerous occasions that "the room isn't the same...

This week we present poet Kevin Burke. Kevin W. Burke was born and raised in the aged suburban stretch, industrial parks, and haunted forests of the Chicago Southland. He has found work in a grocery store, animal shelter, power plants, scaffold yard, coffee shop, windshield warehouse, film studio, bar, classrooms, the back of an ambulance, and most recently in poetry of the homemade flyers, frayed cables, and broken nosed laughter between punk-rock and hip-hop. Most recently he founded and is...

This week we present poet Lacey Roop. Lacey Roop is a nationally acclaimed spoken word artist. In 2011, she placed 6th at the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS), has been the Austin, TX Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) representative as well as a two-time member of the renowned Austin Poetry Slam. Roop has toured everywhere from Texas to Canada and everywhere in-between. She has shared stages with numerous artists from finger-painting kindergardeners to The Wailers. She is the author of...

This week we present poet Desireé Dallagiacomo. Desireé Dallagiacomo is the 3rd ranked lady poet at the 2015 Women of the World Poetry Slam, 3rd ranked poet at the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam. 3rd ranked (as a member of Slam new Orleans) at the 2014 National Poetry Slam. You can find her at poemsbydes.tumblr.com/ @WANPoetry writeaboutnowpoetry.com youtube.com/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com Hosted by Davis Land. davisland.info Desireé Dallagiacomo’s performance...

This week we present poets Clementine von Radics and Alex Dang Clementine von Radics is the founder of Where Are You Press. Her latest book, "Mouthful of Forevers" is currently the #1 New Release by a Female Poet on Amazon. Alex Dang is a poet from Portland, Oregon. He has four things in common with Hamlet: words, words, word, and an affinity for stabbing curtains. @WANPoetry writeaboutnowpoetry.com youtube.com/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com Hosted by Davis Land....

This week we present poet Derrick Brown. Derrick Brown is the winner of the 2013 Texas Book of The Year award for Poetry. He is a former Paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne and is the president of one of what Forbes and Filter Magazine call “…one of the best independent poetry presses in the country”, Write Bloody Publishing. He is the author of five books of poetry and three children’s books. The New York Times calls his work, “…a rekindling of faith in the weird, hilarious, shocking,...

This week we present poet Good Ghost Bill. Bill Moran (Good Ghost Bill) was a proud member of the 2011-2013 Austin Poetry Slam national teams, as well as the 2012 & 2013 Austin Poetry Slam Champion and 2013 Southern Fried Haiku Champion. He has has co-directed the Texas Grand Slam two years running, featured at venues and taught workshops nationwide and internationally, conducted long-term poetry programs at a local juvenile justice center, as well as released four books and a CD. In the...

This week we present poet Ebony Stewart. Ebony Stewart aka The Gully Princess is all things black, woman, and magic. She is the only adult female three-time Slam Champion in Austin Texas. Has shared stages with Buddy Wakefield and the late Amiri Baraka. Coached the Neo-Soul slam team finishing 1st place in Group Piece Finals in 2012, coached the Austin Poetry Slam team leading them to 5th place in 2013 at the National Poetry Slam and coached the TheySpeak Poetry Slam team finishing top 8 in...

BONUS EPISODE featuring Austyn Degelman. @WANPoetry youtube.com/user/WANpoetry facebook.com/WANpoetry wanpoetry.tumblr.com/ Hosted by Davis Land. davisland.info Austyn Degelman’s performance recorded at Revolution Bar in Bryan, TX Arranged in Bryan, TX Music from dustmotes. http://feeds.feedburner.com/WANPoetry http://archive.org/download/AustynDegelmanMixdown/Austyn%20Degelman_mixdown.mp3

This week we present poet Suzy La Follette.  Suzanne La Follette hates writing bios about herself in third person but does it anyway. She spent several years doing the slam poetry thing. Was on the Flagstaff, AZ team twice and the Austin Poetry Slam team once in 2005. She made it to the finals stage in 2003 in Chicago and walked away with 6th place. She just got her MFA in poetry and non-fiction at Antioch University Los Angeles. Her non-fiction piece “The Art of Reading Smoke” was nominated...

The first episode of the Write About Now Poetry Podcast! This week we present poet Danny Strack. Danny Strack has been performing poetry live for over a decade. He holds slam championship titles at national, regional and city levels. What? Really? Yeah: - 2012 National Group Champion w/ Austin Neo-Soul - 2010 Austin Poetry Slam Individual Champ - 2007 Southwest Shootout Individual ChampionHe is the Slammaster/Executive Director of the Austin Poetry Slam, and a five-time member / three-time...