Brooklyn Poetry Slam | Sept. 27, 2022

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 Lacresha Berry.

Don’t miss the chance to speak out and be heard! Sign up for either the slam competition or the open mic. The signups are first come, first served, and happened at the event starting 6:50pm.

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.

Lacresha Berry, better known as Berry, is a singer/songwriter, actress, poet, educator, and writer from Queens by way of Lexington, Kentucky. She received her BA in Theatre from the University of Kentucky. She honed her playwriting skills there and went on to produce three one woman shows since 2002. Her one woman show, “Browngirl. Bluegrass.” documented her life as a brown girl coming of age in the bluegrass state of Kentucky. She’s performed all over the country with the show as well as singing and hosting all over NYC. Her most recent one woman show, TUBMAN, a reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s life as a young girl in Harlem, debuted to packed audiences in her hometown of Lexington, KY, and NYC, with additional performances in Pittsburgh at the August Wilson Center, San Diego, Rikers Island, New Bedford Massachusetts, Sacramento, Tubman’s birthplace in Cambridge, MD, several Fringe Festivals, and London. When she’s not performing, she’s probably on TikTok dismantling beauty standards and diet culture, facilitating writing residencies for middle and high schoolers, conducting educational workshops, and writing curriculum. She is currently working on a new one woman show and writing more cool stories for young people.