Poetry, Community, and Deliverance: How KeiRock is Impacting Spoken Word

November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 Elijah Isaiah Johnson

It was November 19, and LA’s West Side was wrapped in a breeze uncharacteristic of a California night, but was a welcome interruption to the heatwaves the state is known for. The historic Odyssey Theater Ensemble, home of some of the city’s most multi-cultural plays and productions, housed the Sippin’ Poetry Slam Food Drive, hosted by the multi-hyphenated talent, poet, actor, and artist combo, Ahkei “KeiRock” Togun.

Books, Interview

Ibi Zoboi on Writing a Biographical Constellation of Octavia Butler

February 16, 2022February 17, 2022 Shannon Gibney

Award-winning author Ibi Zoboi has penned a “biographical constellation” of the late, great Black feminist sci-fi writer Octavia Butler. Called Star Child (Dutton, January 2022), the book contains poems, short essays, and actual fragments of Butler’s own writing and musings.

Music, Podcasts1 Comment

Southern Fried Asian: G Yamazawa

September 6, 2017March 28, 2018 Southern Fried Asian

On this week’s episode of Southern Fried Asian, Keith talks to spoken word and hip-hop artist G Yamazawa, whose debut album, Shouts to Durham, and breakthrough single/video “North Cack” have taken the internet by storm.

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Lit Week, Literature, Poetry

NOC Poetry: “Supa Soul Sistas”

October 26, 2013May 8, 2014 Walidah Imarisha

In honor of the Nerds of Color Lit Week, I wanted to share a piece called “Supa Soul Sista.” I wrote and performed it with Turiya Autry and our poetry duo Good Sista/Bad Sista a few years ago.

We wrote it because we are both unabashed nerds. And we are also both Black feminist poets, professors and activist/organizers. As many folks reading this blog know, this mix can cause a bigger explosion than a warp core breach in the matter/anti-matter containment unit on the Starship Enterprise. Often there are no images of anyone who looks like us in comics or in sci-fi, and those folks who do are not authentic representations, but are often more ideas of what white male writers think Black women are.

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Fantasy, Lit Week, Literature, Poetry2 Comments

Talking Back to White Creators: Rachel Rostad’s “To J.K. Rowling, From Cho Chang”

October 25, 2013November 4, 2015 Jason Sperber

The flip side of the discussion of opening up the speculative fiction genres to more writers of color telling stories about characters of color is the phenomenon of white writers employing characters of color. Such works are not automatically or inherently problematic when done sensitively and skillfully; indeed, the diversification of the worlds of white creators to reflect the real diversity of our own is necessary. Speculative fiction abounds with examples both bad, like the racial allegories of Tolkien‘s Middle Earth, and good, like Le Guin’s Earthsea series, Stephenson’s Snow Crash, or Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.

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Art, Music, Strength in NUMBERS1 Comment

EXCLUSIVE: Strength in NUMBERS Featuring CATZIE by Chi-Yun Lau

October 17, 2013February 17, 2014 The Nerds of Color

The Strength in NUMBERS train keeps rolling as we unveil the latest “variant” album cover to Chops’ massive Asian American hip-hop movement.

Illustrated by Boston-based cartoonist and graphic designer CHI-YUN LAU, the latest Strength in NUMBERS album cover features one-half of the spoken word duo Yellow Rage, CATZIE. Also available today, check out this photo montage of all the artists and fans of Strength in NUMBERS, set to Catzie’s track from the album, “And This Goes Out to You.”