K Love The Poet is the poetic heart of her city,Chicago. Affectionately known as the Mother of the Southside, her poetry speaks to the spirit of the matters, that matter most. From Social justice, to Self Love, K love is a necessary brand of healing for such a time as this.  To Many Fires This Time, she lent wise words like:  “Till y’all learn,To put some respect on our breath/ Been bogus/ You bend bogus/ Knees don’t kneel right / Don’t feel right/ On pavement/Better on a slave neck…” (Excerpt from spoken word poem: From Nooses to Knees)

More about K Love:

• https://www.facebook.com/kendria.k.harris

Marvin K. White, MDiv, is currently the Full-Time Minister of Celebration at the historic Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, CA.His poetry has been adapted for stage at San Francisco’s Theater Rhinoceros and he has performed his work himself at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a part of their 2014 BAN7 Festival. As a former member of the critically acclaimed theater troupe The Pomo Afro Homos’ he has performed nationally and internationally.

Beginning as a Teaching Artist for WritersCorps, he continues to lead creative arts and writing workshops for a range of audiences, from youth centers for runaway kids to black gay support groups to literary conference, faith communities and social justice organizations.

White is cofounder of B/GLAM (Black Gay Letters and Arts Movement), a Bay Area, California organization whose goal was to preserve, present and incubate black gay artistic expressions. He is a graduate of the national African-American poetry fellowship and organization, Cave Canem; and sits on the board of Fire & Ink, a national black LGBT writer’s organization. A public theologian and community-based artist, he is articulating a vision of social, prophetic and creative justice through his work as a poet, artist, teacher, facilitator, activist, community organizer, preacher, homemaker, cake baker, and Facebook Statustician. 

More about Marvin:

• https://www.marvinkwhite.com/

@mistymarierae is a hillbilly radical, barefooted poet and backwoods activist born and raised and still surviving in Eastern Kentucky. Her work focuses on finding the beauty and strength in everyday life in a region long plagued by outside exploitation and generational poverty. Skaggs’ roots run deep and show through in her verse. (Excerpt from spoken word poem: Laugh to Keep from Crying)

More about Misty:

• Humans of Central Appalachia, Our Stories

Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book titled, "Someone's Dead Already" was nominated for a California Book Award. His latest book "Heaven Is All Goodbyes" was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. His forthcoming book “Blood On The Fog” is being released this fall in the City Lights Pocket Poets series. He is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate.On contributing to “Many Fires This Time,” he says, “It was an honor to make a small contribution to such a unity of commitment to art and the people.” (Excerpt from spoken word poem: I Imitate You)

More about Tongo:

• Tongo Eisen-Martin Selected as San Francisco's Poet Laureate

A Scribe Called Quess? is a poet, educator, multi-disciplinary artist and activist based in New Orleans, LA. His organizing work confronts symbolic and socio-cultural racism as an access point to undoing systemic and economic injustice. His writing is a vehicle for people empowerment, a trojan horse for political education, a healing balm for the oppressed. (Excerpt from spoken word poem: When the Scavengers Came)

More about Quess?:

• https://www.ascribecalledquess.com