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International Slam Poets

Australia Tour 2011.

Biographies of international slam poets and tour partnership.

International Slam Poets.

Jive Poetic.

From his hometown in Buffalo, NY to London, England


Jive Poetic has ignited microphones with humorous
wordplay and thought provoking verbal display.

After Jive Poetic won his first slam in January of 2001,


it was understood that his audience heard every word
he said. Soon, Jive Poetic began to season his art form
through feature performances at local New York and
New Jersey venues earning his stripes as a verbal
connoisseur after rave performances at the Brooklyn
Moon to Serengeti Plains. Jive then won New York's
Grand Slam title in 2002. A former member of the
internationally recognized Tri-City slam team that won
"The Cross The Boarder Slam" held in Toronto, Canada.
In 2003, Jive Poetic became a member of the Nuyorican
Poetry Cafe's National Slam Team.

While his voice is lightened in humor, his topics are heavy. As a mindful poet, serious
performer and inquisitive speaker, Jive Poetic attempts to take his listeners in to a
mind state beyond the obvious and dares you to listen, further.

Mahogany L. Brown.

Mahogany L. Browne is currently host and


curator at the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Mahogany is the editor of the women's
anthology His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays
by HER and author of several books
including her latest book of poems: Swag.
She has released five LPs including the live
album Sheroshima.
As co-founder of the Off Broadway Poetry
Production, Jam On It, and co-producer
of NYC's 1st Performance Poetry Festival:
SoundBites Poetry Festival, Mahogany bridges the gap between lyrical poets and
literary emcee. Her freelance journalism can be found in magazines Uptown, KING,
XXL, The Source, Canada's The Word and UK's MOBO.

Mahogany facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the


country, focusing on women empowerment and youth mentoring. She is the
publisher of Penmanship Books, a small press for performance artists and owns
PoetCD.Com, an on-line marketing and distribution company for poets.

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International Slam Poets
Australia Tour 2011.

Ken Arkind.

Ken Arkind is a National Poetry Slam Champion,


Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion and full
time touring artist who has performed his work in
almost all of the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and at over
200 colleges and universities. His work has been
featured in the documentaries SPIT!, Slamplanet, as
well as on HBO, CBS, NBC and Borders.com's Open
Door Poetry series alongside former U.S. Poet
Laureate Billy Collins. He is the Executive Director
and head Brave New Voices coach for The Denver
Minor Disturbance Poetry Project, an independent
literary arts organization dedicated to helping youth find
their voice through the mediums of poetry and
performance. His first collection of poetry "I know why
Georgia Turner waited by the train tracks" will be
available summer of 2011 from Penmanship Books.

"Arkind speaks from a place of honesty that most of us are afraid of, but still spend
our lifetimes trying to reach; young people feel a sense of kinship with Ken because
they smell and recognize this honesty as something they are desperately trying to
awaken and hold onto in themselves."

- English/Creative Writing Teacher for Montrose High School Montrose, CO.

Nuyorican Poets Café.

Founded circa 1973, The Nuyorican


Poets Cafe began as a living room
salon in the East Village apartment
of writer and poet, Miguel Algarin.
Algarin, a college professor at the
centre of this blossoming arts
community, was dedicated to
bringing new work into the public
eye. By 1975 it became clear that
there were many poets and too
much energy for Algarin's living
room. William Morrow Inc. had just
published an anthology titled
“Nuyorican Poetry”. Miguel Piñero's “Short Eyes” had just won two awards as best
play of the 1974 season. Poetry, the vital sign of a new culture, needed to be heard
live. So Algarin rented an Irish bar, the Sunshine Cafe on East 6th Street, which was
christened The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. By 1980, the overflow of audiences led the
Cafe to purchase an “in rem” building at 236 East 3rd Street to expand its activities
and programs.

 
 
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Australia Tour 2011.
 
Tour Partnership. 
 
The Centre for Poetics and Justice. 
 

 
 
Spoken Word Artists and Youth Educators. 
 
Joel McKerrow 
 
Joel McKerrow is a performance poet,
writer, educator, youth worker, thinker and
activist. He has been a youth worker for the
last 10 years, working with
marginalised teenagers in a broad range of
organisations in both New South
Wales and Victoria. Last year he released his
first book, Beyond Rhetoric – Writings
in the Tradition of Kahlil Gibran.
He is an active spoken word poet featuring
at many different poetry nights
around Melbourne and recently placed second in the finals of the Melbourne
Overload Poetry Slam and represented at the Victorian State Final of the
Australian Poetry Slam. With a style that moves between spoken word and
hip-hop, his poetry has been described as, ‘blistering in its intensity’, ‘giving new
meaning to the power of words and almost leaving you breathless’, ‘never forceful
but always urgent... his words work through him and his poems have life’.
Vocationally, he has been an educator for the last five years and is currently on
Faculty at Tabor College Victoria where he lectures in youth work and runs a
transitional year for school leavers. He has a B.A. (Psych), B.Th. (Theology), Cert. IV
TAA (Training and Assessment) and M.A. (Vocational Practice).

Luka ‘Lesson’ Haralampou


Luka is a poet, hip-hop emcee, community arts worker and
university educator. The winner of the Melbourne Overload
Poetry Slam in 2010, Luka travelled to the USA and competed in
the Individual World Poetry Slam finals and came 19th out of a
field of 72 poets. In Australia, he is the Assistant Lecturer in
Indigenous Studies at Monash University and has extensive
experience working with Indigenous, refugee, recent migrant
and mainstream communities, and schools in arts-based
development projects. Luka has also worked as a community
consultation officer, coordinated symposiums and spoken in
forums and lectures based on inter-cultural communication and
Australian identity.

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Bronwyn Lovell

Bronwyn has worked as a magazine feature writer, a


children’s book writer and editor, and as a remedial
literacy instructor for disadvantaged children in Western
Sydney and in Cape York Indigenous communities. She
has an M.Litt. in Creative Writing and a B.A. in English
and Film Studies from the University of Sydney. Bronwyn,
in association with Australian Poetry, is the poet in
residence at Kinfolk Café in the city, and was recently
made an intern on the editorial team of Going Down
Swinging. She has a passion for linguistics and
storytelling, and has been writing poetry since she was a
little girl.

Tariro Mavonda

Tariro is currently completing her third year of acting


at the Victorian College of the Arts. She is both
passionate of heart and passionate about spoken word
poetry. From the roots of her heritage, she dances and
sings African style. She is a two-time finalist in the
Victorian State Final of the Australian Poetry Slam and
placed third in the national final in 2010.

Laurent Dunningham

After graduating from the Excel School of Performing Arts in


2006 with an Advanced Certificate in Dance and Drama,
Laurent has continued her training as Co-Director of
Triple8funk Dance Company for three years in New Zealand
and competed in the World Hip-Hop Championships in Las
Vegas in 2007. She has travelled the globe professionally,
teaching and performing in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Chicago,
and throughout Australia and New Zealand.

After moving to Melbourne in 2010, she continued to teach


dance and was also a finalist in the Melbourne Overload
Poetry Slam and the Victorian State Final of the Australian
Poetry Slam. She has been writing for five years and has
performed spoken word throughout Australia and New
Zealand. She has come to Melbourne to further pursue her
career in music and lyrics.

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Meena Shamaly

As far as love goes, Meena’s first has always


been music. That is, until he discovered
spoken word performance poetry in 2007,
when he realised that his greatest love is
creativity itself. He is an aspiring
composer/producer whose love for creating
music is currently guiding him through a
Bachelor of Music at Monash University, but
he is definitely a musician with his own
voice.

His poetry has twice earned him a place at the state finals of the Australian Poetry
Slam and he has also been a national finalist in 2009, and he shows no signs of
slowing down. Poetry is as much music to his mind as it is words on his page.

Cameron Semmens

Cameron Semmens is an award-winning comic poet and


performer, with nine books and four CDs of his poetry
published to date. He makes his living through words:
running workshops, writing books and performing. In 2010
he became an associated artist with World Vision. He lives in
Melbourne with his wife Sonya and baby Spencer.

Alia Gabrez

For many years, Alia introduced herself as ‘a


writer that does not write’, until she was
lucky enough to stumble upon the most
honest way to live by her words. Through
spoken word, she is able to feel,
contemplate, write and tell as she goes,
navigating her way and learning to see the
magnificent in every story told.

As a spoken word artist, Alia strives to


connect the pieces of the human experience
through expression and emotion. Her poetry is to be felt rather than heard.

Alia works in the field of special needs education, is involved in a grassroots


community based tutoring/mentoring program for migrant and disadvantaged
youth, is currently working on a cross-cultural story telling project at the Footscray
Community Arts Centre, as well as facilitating writing and poetry workshops.

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Professional Development Support.

The Torch Project.

Alison Brash – Artistic Coordinator

A self confessed “arts-junkie”, visual artist and film maker, Alison Brash’s passion
for supporting artists on the fringe to gain national recognition is infectious. Alison
has over 20 years work experience in the Arts and Community development sectors.
Alison has previously held Management roles with Bindi Inc. in the Northern
Territory, Anglicare SA, where she managed their Community Development team as
State Programs Manager with Ananguku Arts and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, in
South Australia. Known for her ability to think outside the square and implement
innovative solutions to address complex social issues, Alison has a solid track record
of leading development work in the disability, antipoverty and women’s rights
sectors. She has worked with some of the Nation’s leading theatre and visual arts
organisation, and has developed strong arts and intercultural networks.

Tour Managers.

Bo Svoronos

Bo Svoronos is facilitator of RMIT's 5 day Cultural Leadership Professional


Development Program 8-12 August 2011, Melbourne. Chairman of WELL Productions
International touring theatre and contemporary performance company. PhD Student
at RMIT in Indigenous Metropolitan Festivals and Reciprocity 2008-2011. Former
City of Port Phillip Indigenous Arts Officer and Producer and Programmer of five
Yalukit Willam Ngargee: People Place Gathering Indigenous Festivals 2006 to 2010,
consulting mentor on 2011 festival. Community visual arts exhibition curator
2007/08/09. Monsalvat artist and writer in residence, April 2010. Falls Fringe
Festival Award winner 2009 for trans-media and live performance production 'Letters
To Isaac' written and performed by Bo Svoronos, directed by Scott Gooding and
produced by Small Change Theatre's Cathy Horsley. Received Innovative Training
Award for Indigenous Media Scholarship with OPEN CHANNEL, St Kilda Youth Services
and NITV 2009. Received Unity Foundation Individual Contribution to Reconciliation
Award 2007. Re-founder and co-director of the St Kilda Writers' Festival 2005/06.
Facilitator of The Play Write Sessions City of Port Phillip Cultural Development funded
local literature initiative 2003/04/05. Owner/ Operator Creative Collaborations:
cultural brokerage entrepreneurship and event productions 2003 to 2006 and ronin
chef by trade.

Fiona Brook 
 
Fiona Brook is experienced communications and public relations practitioner with an
extensive network in local and international media. She has a substantial track
record of success in arts and entertainment, events, fashion, design, and hospitality
sectors. Fiona recently left boutique public relations firm, Harvey Publicity, to launch
her own production and publicity company, Zilla & Brook. Fiona is an experienced
journalist who has lived and worked internationally. Residing in NYC for ten years,
Fiona produced stories for general interest and lifestyle magazines in Australia, New
Zealand and South East Asia in the fields of design, artists and literature as well as
travel and events. Since 2004 Fiona has been involved in Australia’s largest
photographic biennale, the Ballarat Foto Biennale. Established in 2004 and now
preparing for the 2011 festival, Fiona has been a board member, committee member
and head of PR and marketing since its inception. Fiona also owned and managed an
independent photography company based in Melbourne for five years. In 2010 Fiona
undertook short courses in Documentary Filmmaking at Open Channel, then
completed with high distinction the inaugural Executive Producers course at Victoria
University Law School.

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