The Poet Speaks Podcast

We welcome to The Poet Speaks Podcast, Rachel Ferguson! Rachel is co-owner of Ryozan Park and executive director of Kosodate Village NPO. She has a degree in literature and master’s degrees in Japanese gender studies and creative writing. Originally from Scotland, Rachel also works as a voice artist and, in her spare time, loves reading and writing poetry, playing music and walking in the woods wi...

Check out Amanda's conversation with Adrian Matejka! Adrian was born in Nuremberg, Germany and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Matejka served as Poet Laureate of the state of Indiana in 2018– 19, and he became the editor of Poetry magazine in 2022. Adrian's Links: https://adrianmatejka.com/ Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/...

Check out Amanda's conversation with Mumbi Macharia! Mumbi is a performing spoken word poet, event curator, and blogger from Nairobi, Kenya. Her poetry revolves around the themes of love, femininity, Africa, sex, and the inevitability of heartbreak. Mumbi has been a featured poet at poetry events across East Africa, and has curated her own events in various parts of Kenya. She has written and perf...

Welcome to the Season 4 Premiere of, The Poet Speaks Podcast! Check out Amanda's conversation with Sandra Cisneros. Sandra is a poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, performer, and artist. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, a MacArthur Fellowship, national and international book awards, including the PEN America Literary Award, and the National Medal of...

Welcome to the Season 3 finale of The Poet Speaks Podcast! Check out Amanda's conversation with Caridad De La Luz! Caridad is a multifaceted performer known as LA BRUJA who is nominated for an Emmy as Script Writer of “Legacy of Puerto Rican Poetry” which aired on ABC last year and she is the newly appointed Executive Director of the NUYORICAN POETS CAFE where she began her career in 1996. Winner...

Check out this week's episode with Adam Tie! Adam is the founder of The Novel Encounter, and a published author & poet. He's well-known for his live typewritten poetry, where he gets invited by brands & to festivals and special occasions to engage with the guests for customised poems. Simply give him 3 words and he will write something heartfelt for you on the spot. Be sure to become a Poetry Lab...

icon303 is an artist and poet based in South Florida. He is continually working and writing to create a better place for us all to live.” Check out this episode as him and Amanda talk all about his life, career in writing and all things Spoken Word Poetry! Be sure to become a Poetry Lab Partner and attend a monthly workshop led by a teaching artist who represents a fresh new voice in the writing w...

Check out Amanda's conversation with Lady Red Ego! Lady Red Ego is a Chinese/Scottish lesbian writer concerned with intimacies. Her first pamphlet, The Red Ego, was published in 2019 with Wild Pressed Books and her second pamphlet, Natural Sugars, was published in 2020 by Broken Sleep Books. Her debut collection, Your Turn To Speak!, is due to be released in 2023 with Blue Diode Press. Be sure to...

Listen to Amanda's conversation with Xabiso Vili! Having won the Poetry Africa 2021 Slam Jam competition, Xabiso Vili will be representing South Africa at the World Poetry Slam Championship 2022 in Brussels. He is a multi-award winning writer, performer, social activist, new media artist, applied theatre practitioner and producer obsessed with how to use innovative creativity for healing and thera...

This week, Amanda has a chat with Dhayana Alejandrina! Dhayana is a Dominican writer, poet, and storyteller. Dhayana started to write around the age of nine when she lived in the Dominican Republic, then continued to after immigrating to the United States in 2009 with her family. Her writings explore different topics such as growth, love, loss, culture, healing, and spirituality. In 2018, she had...

Check out Amanda's conversation with Soul Stuf! Christian Perfas is a second generation Filipino-American poet and teaching artist who goes by the moniker, "Soul Stuf." His catalogue of work covers a wide range of material, from the seemingly mundane to the heart-wrenchingly familiar. Raised with a background in theatre, improv, and hip-hop, he has been honing his poetic craft for the past five ye...

Our Season 3 opener is starting off with A BANG. We have Titilope Sonuga! Titilope is a poet and performer whose work grasps for moments of tenderness and persistent joy at the intersection of blackness and womanhood. She is the first EVER poet to recite at a Nigerian Presidential Inauguration and is the author of three award-winning collections of poetry, Down to Earth (2011), Abscess (2014), and...

For our Season 2 Finale we are EXCITED to welcome Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa to the podcast! Sukhjit is a spoken word poet, playwright and screenwriter. She has competed in the Australian Poetry Slam Competition (2014) as a finalist, performed on Australia’s Got Talent (2016) as a semi-finalist, and presented at TedxUWA (2017) and TedxNewtown (2019). She has performed with notable artists including Missy...

We have Melania Luisa Marte on the podcast this week! Melania is a writer, poet, and speaker from New York living in the Dominican Republic. Her most viral poem “Afro-Latina” was featured by Instagram on their IG TV for National Poetry Month and has garnered over 9 million views. Her work has also been featured by Ain’t I Latina, The Root, Teen Vogue, Facebook, Telemundo, Remezcla, and People En E...

We welcome to the Podcast, Stephen James Smith! Stephen James Smith is a Dublin poet and playwright central to the rise of the Irish spoken word scene. His poetry videos have amassed over 3 million views online, including ‘My Ireland’, a short poetry film commissioned by St. Patrick’s Festival. Stephen has performed extensively at top venues and events such as Electric Picnic, Other Voices, the Na...

We welcome to the podcast, Asantewaa Boykin! Asantewaa is the Daughter of Valerie Boykin, Granddaughter of Bertha Brandy and Gladys Boykin and the Great-Granddaughter of Nonnie Boykin and Drucella Bluford. She is a proud San Diego, CA native that found her voice in Oakland, CA Berthas’ home and Drucellas’ frontier. Her poetry and art combines her love of words, storytelling, and resistance. Explor...

Check out Amanda's conversation with Biankah Bailey! Biankah is a writer and educator from Kingston, Jamaica. She has been teaching English in Japan for over a decade and currently resides in Saitama Prefecture with her husband and cat. Some of her written work has been published in Musings, an anthology series by Writers’ Bloc, Tokyo as well as in Tokyo Poetry Journal Volume I. She is one of the...

On this week's episode Amanda talks to Usolosopher! Molimau Andrew Fatu aka Usolosopher (ooo-so- losopher) is a Samoan poet from Long Beach, California. He has three self-published books. He was also a radio personality on Hotwordz Lyrical Theatre. He has mentored the youth in the inner cities of Los Angeles county. Being part of the CSUDH poetry club F.L.O.W. (For the Love Of Writing) he was pres...

This episode we have, Anouk Yeh! Anouk is a spoken word poet, journalist and organizer from San Jose, California. She is Santa Clara County’s 2021 Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate, a 2020 National Student Poet Program semifinalist and a U.S. delegate to the International Congress of Youth Voices. A firm believer that "the role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible," Yeh is always activ...

On this week's episode we have Tyrone Lewis! Tyrone is a pop-culture powerhouse of a poet. He is a UK Poetry Slam Champion for 2020, former Roundhouse Poetry Slam Champion and author of his very own debut poetry collection, ‘Blackish’. Tyrone has worked across England with poetry in a variety of ways, including performing, teaching and peer mentoring. He was nominated as the editor’s choice for Be...

This episode, Amanda talks to Jennifer Alicia! Jennifer  is a queer, mixed Mi'kmaw and settler (german/Irish/Scottish) multidisciplinary artist originally from Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk (Bay of Islands, Newfoundland), now residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is a two-time national poetry slam champion and recently published her chapbook titled "Mixed Emotions." Jennifer Alicia was published in Issue 09 o...

This week we welcome to the Podcast, Ryan Buynak! Ryan is a self proclaimed word nerd, poet, and creative force. He can’t quit writing even if he tries; it’s a part of him that he can’t turn off. Orphaned at age 12, Ryan has always been an observer with a lot to say. He has published 13 books of poetry, is the host of the “Bothering the Band” podcast, serves as an active member of storytelling wor...

We welcome to the podcast, Deesoul! Darnell “DeeSoul” Carson (He/They) is a Black queer poet, performer, and educator from San Diego, CA. A The Watering Hole Writing Workshop Fellow, his work has been featured by Button Poetry, Write About Now Poetry, The Adroit Journal, & elsewhere. He graduated with a degree in Cultural/Social Psychology and a minor in Creative Writing from Stanford University a...

Angelyric is a South African born Spoken Word Artist. After being awarded the bronze prize in the Caxton writing competition of 2015 she co-found Johannesburg based, multidisciplinary Art collective PG_13 with its focus being the culmination of poetry and music. She has performed at Port Elizabeth Opera house, Grahamstown Art Festival, Fete De La Musique and together with her band, made it to the...

BONUS EPISODE! While waiting for Season 2, check out this bonus episode of The Poet Speaks Podcast! We welcome to the podcast, Marcellus Nealy, co-editor of Umoja: ToPoJo Excursions - Black diaspora Edition. The FIRST poetry collection written by all black poets and writers to ever be produced in Japan! Marcellus found his poetic voice in the mid-1990s on a small stage in Tokyo, at the popular Bri...