Elm City LIT Fest

In this SPECIAL EPISODE Elm City LIT Fest welcomes our friends from People Get Ready Book Store as they celebrate with poet, author, and educator Marilyn Nelson on the release of her new book "Papa's Free Day Party"

Dr. Don Sawyer, HipHop Educator / Activist, Devon Glover “Sonnet Man” Educator, Hip Hip Poet Artist, Josh Brown “An Urban Nerd” Educator/Poet Artist speak on the effect of racism in amerikka on their creativity and lives.

Guest 1: Dr. Don C. Sawyer III is the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He is a tenured associate professor in the department of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences and an assistant clinical professor in the Frank H. Netter, MD, School of Medicine. He teaches courses on Race, Education, Popular Culture, and Social Research Methods, including the university’s first course dedicated to the sociological study of hip-hop culture. His scholarly focus is on race, social justice, urban education, hip-hop culture, and formerly incarcerated citizens’ reentry experiences. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology and M.S. in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University and a B.A. in Psychology from Hartwick College.

Dr. Sawyer has served in various capacities as a university administrator. With over 20 years of higher education experience, he has held positions in residence life, admissions, multicultural affairs, fraternity and sorority affairs, student activities, experiential learning, student leadership, and STEM retention. Throughout his career, he has worked diligently to nurture healthy relationships between academic and student affairs. He understands that collaborative partnerships create an environment conducive to the successful recruitment, retention, education, and graduation of civically engaged students.

Guest 2: Devon Glover - Devon Glover is a teacher, rapper, poet, playwright and actor from Brooklyn, New York. He performs Shakespeare's Sonnets through Hip-Hop as The Sonnet Man in schools and theatres worldwide. Devon has appeared on NBC, BBC, and at Conferences and Festivals worldwide, including Stratford, Ontario, and Stratford-upon-Avon. He has taught with Stratford Shakespeare, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Shakespeare Behind Bars. Devon has written adaptations of Shakespeare for various companies. In the Spring 2019, Devon was commissioned by the University of Warwick and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to write a hip-hop adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” For more information, visit www.SonnetMan.com

Guest 3: Josh Brown - AnUrbanNerd has been writing and performing for the past 10 years. The purpose of his art is to show that "your gift is not your own". He used to rap as a joke with his friends but he keep it low key. Now he is comfortable sharing his passion for music and remains his goofy self. He took up the name AnUrbanNerd to embrace what he used to try to hide. At the end of the day everyone has a gift that they need to share with the world.

Guest 4: Frederick Douglass-Knowles II - is an Educator and Activist fervent in achieving community augmentation through literary arts. He is the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Hartford. His works have been selected as a finalist for the New England Frederick-Douglass Knowles II is an Educator and Activist fervent in achieving community augmentation through literary arts. He is the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Hartford. His works have been selected as a finalist for the New England Association of Teachers of English (NEATE) Poet of the Year Award, as well as a nominee for a Pushcart Prize. He is a recipient of the Nutmeg Poetry Award, and the 2020 Connecticut of The Arts Fellow in Artist Excellence for Poetry/ Creative Non-Fiction. Frederick-Douglass is the author of BlackRoseCity, and an Associate Professor of English at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT.

Beatboxing Poetry and Spittin’ with Bridgeport based G.A.N.G. Poets group Spittin’ their words in Celebration of National Poetry Month.
Bios

Guest 1: Yalan Sesay

Hailing from New Jersey, Yalan Sesay is a 27 year old vocal percussionist and poet who resides in the Ward 8 District of Washington, DC. From a young age Yalan has been practicing and honing his craft of beatboxing in various street performances, and open mics. He recently just started poetry under the tutelage of the legendary DC Spit Dat founders Dwayne Lawson-Brown and Drew Anderson. When he isn’t working on his crafts Yalan can be found working on his Martial Arts skills practicing Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Most of the time he can be found working hard for his community by positively influencing the lives of youth that are in transition from the streets as a Career Pathways Specialist for the Covenant House of Greater Washington. Through his art forms Yalan wishes to positively inspire and expose others to different ideas.

Guest 2: MK Calero

Primarily a Young Adult fiction writer but I also enjoy writing poetry. I studied English in college and later received my MFA in Creative Writing back in 2017 (from Lesley University). I love and understand the importance of words and stories and have dedicated my life to this craft. Aside from writing poetry, I am currently working on a YA fantasy trilogy.

Guest 3: Lawrence “Logic” Taylor

Age 31

Rapper/ poet/writer/creator / Clothing line Outcasts and Weirdos and working on 2 other lines called Know Your Worth and Hippie Life dropping in June. Writer working on a novel and a short film about single fathers.

Guest 4: Julien Mein “Brother Bear”

A 20 year old poet and spoken word artist from Hartford, CT.

Guest 5: Phillip C. Alexander

born and raised in Bridgeport, CT. Poetry is my passion and I love to study my craft so I display it to the best of my ability. I look forward to what the future has in store so stay tuned and follow me for more content @philcalexander

Stacy Graham-Hunt, a New Haven native, is an author and award-winning columnist, honored by the National Association of Black Journalists for her stories about race and identity. She is passionate about Black people telling their own stories and preserving their own history. She's shared her own stories about overcoming failed relationships, humiliation and shame on her blog, ProcessingPain.com, which she later published as a book, Processing Pain.

Stacy is the membership director for the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and has also worked in marketing and community engagement roles for Bad Boy Records, MTV, Morgan Stanley and General Motors. She is also a licensed cosmetologist in the State of Connecticut.

You can find Stacy's articles about her family, the arts, culture and growing up as a young Black woman in predominantly white spaces syndicated in 5 major Hearst-owned newspapers throughout the state, including the New Haven Register and the Connecticut Post.

A boy-mom with two sons, Stacy is a graduate of Hopkins School, has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Southern Connecticut State University and a master’s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. She is also an alumna of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University.

Follow her on social media @stacyreports, and to receive a free electronic copy of her book "Processing Pain, send her an email at [email protected].

Discussion with rising Black Women Playwrights a.k. Payne & Abigail Onwunali about their work and the future of Black Theater.

Abigail C. Onwunali (she/her/hers)- Actor/Poet/Writer. Abigail is a second-year
MFA Acting student at the Yale School of Drama. In undergrad, at the University of Texas at Austin, she is one of the most accomplished performers in the history of forensics, having won 13 collegiate national titles across four different interpretation categories over her 4 year career. She has been a sacrificial poet for many events including Texas Grand Slam and Slam Mania hosted by Write About Now.

a.k. payne (she/they) is a playwright, artist-theorist and theatermaker whose people
are rooted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her plays love on and engage the interdependencies of Black pasts, presents and futures and seek to find/remember
language that might move us towards our collective liberation(s). She holds a B.A. in
English and African-American Studies from Yale College and is currently pursuing an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama. akpayne.com