Brooklyn Poetry Slam | Oct. 8, 2024

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.

Anacaona Rocio Milagro is a poet born, raised, and living in New York City, Washington Heights. Writing poetry since age four and performing throughout her adolescence and adulthood, she hit the national stage with the Nuyorican Poets Café Slam team in the National Poetry Slam Championship. She earned an MFA in Poetry at NYU’s Residency program in Paris, an MPH at Columbia University, and a BA in Social Anthropology and Journalism/Creative Writing with a minor in Art from Baruch College/CUNY BA Program. However, nothing compares to her education from the prestigious school of hard knocks. A 2022 Cave Canem Fellow, she has published in Narrative Magazine, The BreakBeat Poets Latinext Anthology, Haper's Bazaar Magazine, The Common, LittHub, Writing The Land Anthology, No Dear Magazine, and others. Her Nine ElevenPoem has been added to the Smithsonian Museum’s 9/11 archives. The NY Botanical Gardens Remembrance & Resilience exhibit published her Palomita Blanca poem on a plaque in the Bronx. Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming in Oct 2024, published by Black Freighter Press, entitled To Make an Island of a Street Corner; and her spoken-word poetry album of the same title is currently available on all streaming platforms. Her father is from the Dominican Republic and her mother is from St. Thomas, The U.S. Virgin Islands.