Brooklyn Poetry Slam | Apr. 25, 2023

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Entry is first come, first served, so please make sure to come early if you’d like to grab a spot!

Check-in for entry starts at 6:00PM / Ballroom doors open at 6:30PM / Event starts at 7:00PM

Join us live and in-person at BRIC House for the Brooklyn Poetry Slam, an incredible evening of poetry and community led by co-founders Mahogany L. Browne and Jive Poetic! Mark your calendars now, and join special guests and poets from all over the world. This month’s featured poet is Sean Christian Slaughter.

Don’t miss the chance to speak out and be heard! At 6:50pm, poets will be able to sign up for either the slam competition or the open mic. The slam competition has 5 slots and the open mic has 7 slots. The signups are first come, first served.

We are unable to allow patrons to save seats for other guests. Upon reaching capacity in the ballroom, we will invite audience members to watch a stream of the event on the stoop.

Head here for information on upcoming poetry slams.

PERFORMER BIOS

Mahogany L. Browne, selected as Kennedy Center’s Next 50, is the Executive Director of JustMedia, a media literacy initiative supporting the groundwork of criminal justice leaders and community members. This position is informed by her career as a writer, organizer, & educator. Browne has received fellowships from Art for Justice, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works: Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, & Black Girl Magic. As the founder of the diverse lit initiative, Woke Baby Book Fair. Browne’s latest project is a poetry collection responding to the impact of mass incarceration on women and children: I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love (Haymarket Books). She is the first-ever poet-in-residence at the Lincoln Center and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Jive Poetic is a writer, organizer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in Media Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute. In 2017 Jive was the first recipient of the John Morning Award for Art and Service. He is the founder of Insurgent Poets Society, Carnival Slam: Cultural Exchange, and co-founder of the Brooklyn Poetry Slam. His work has been showcased on season four of TVONE’s Lexus Verses and Flow, PBS NewsHour, and BET. International recognition and support for his work has come from the British Arts Council; US Embassies in Australia, Brazil, and Poland; and the Minister Of Culture in Antigua and Barbuda. He has received fellowships from Air Serenbe and Rhode Island Writers Colony, and when he is not on tour or hosting, he teaches poetry and hip hop workshops to at risk youth in New York City and the surrounding area.

Sean Christian Slaughter is a poet, arts advocate, and graphic designer from Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BFA from Otis College of Art & Design. Sean’s commitment to arts education and community practice has led him to facilitate creative workshops in juvenile detention centers throughout Los Angeles to orphanages in Malawi, East Africa. Sean has created multiple initiatives for cultural institutions such as The Getty Museum, Parsons School of Design, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles City College, and the AICAD Symposium 2020 centered around visualizing equity and justice through arts education. The pillars of his design philosophy are—art, education, and social re-imagination. He uses his work to examine and open dialogue about his community’s history, culture, and its social needs. As a professional artist, Sean has published three bodies of literary work,  became a national poetry-slam champion of Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival, featured on HBO Brave New Voices 2010, MTV, & Time Warner Cable.