You Own the Mic: The Emergence of Online Poetry Readings
Saturday, May 6 • 11:30am - 12:30pm
In early 2020, the pandemic struck with most of the world facing indefinite lockdown. Poets were just one of many groups taking to the internet with the hopes of forming or maintaining bonds during uncertain times. Then came the advent of Zoom, and the online open mic became popularized. Not since the introduction of slam poetry were spoken word venues changed so completely with no apparent road back to the simple days of pages and podiums. What were the positive effects? the negative? What does the future hold? This panel features a group of organizers whose poetry venues and events were transformed seemingly forever as online forums became the new normal.
Speakers
Jha D Amazi is an architectural designer by day and a spoken word artist by passion. She has been performing and organizing events for the past 15 years, and is the founder of the "if you can Feel it, you can Speak it" Open Mic Movement. Jha D's poetry and space making is a celebratory exploration of identity, sexuality and self-realization, and she professes that there is "undeniable art in expressing your own truth."
Toni Bee is a poet, educator, and photographer raised in Boston, MA, educated in Roxbury. She was elected as Poet Populist of Cambridge, MA - the first woman to grace that position. In 2016, Toni was selected as the Cambridge Inaugural Poetry Ambassador. She was a teaching artist and storyteller at The Wang Theatre, and received her BA from Simmons University. Bee self-published
22 Again, her first book of poetry and was currently serves on the Advisory Board of The New England Poetry Club. The poet has featured at: The Lizard Lounge, The Boston Poetry Slam, New England Poetry Club, The Boston National Poetry Month Festival, the Boston Poetry Marathon and several other venues. Bee has been awarded by YWCA Cambridge and given her flowers from Mass Poetry.
Bestselling Author,
Timothy Gager has published 18 books of fiction and poetry, which includes his third novel,
Joe the Salamander. He hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, MA from 2001 to 2018, and started a weekly virtual series in 2020. He has had over 1000 works of fiction and poetry published, 17 nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.
In 2023, Big Table Publishing published an anthology of twenty years of his selected work, with 175 pages of new material:
The Best of Timothy Gager.Timothy is the former Fiction Editor of
The Wilderness House Literary Review, and the founding co-editor of
The Heat City Literary Review. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Timothy lives in Dedham, Massachusetts,and is employed as a social worker.
Chad Parenteau hosts Boston's long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His latest collection is
The Collapsed Bookshelf. His poetry has appeared in journals such as
Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Pocket Lint, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, The New Verse News, The Rye Whiskey Review, Nixes Mate Review and anthologies such as
French Connections and
Reimagine America. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal
Oddball Magazine.
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