Essah's Way

Episode 117. The Repeat Beat Poet reflects on his poetic, personal, and sonic inspirations that shapes his work and his most recent pamphlet, A Testament To Life & Death.

The Repeat Beat Poet is Peter deGraft-Johnson, a Hip Hop Poet and broadcaster fusing traditional poetics and Hip Hop culture to capture and extend moments of time, thought, and feeling. He has appeared across the UK and internationally while co-founding the Hip Hop open mic night Pen-Ting, being a house emcee with Hip Hop label and jam night Imaginary Millions, and hosting his Hip Hop/Spoken Word radio show #TheRepeatBeatBroadcast, and the multi-award nominated Lunar Poetry Podcast, which is archived in the British Library. The Repeat Beat Poet has been nominated for a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship, was a BBC 1Xtra WordsFirst poet, part of the Roundhouse Collective 2020, and the inaugural Obsidian Foundation.

Episode 116. Desree opens up about her evolution as a writer, memorable performances, and doing the work for her community.

Desree is a spoken word artist, writer and facilitator based in London and Slough. She is currently an Artist in Residence for the poetry collective EMPOWORD, and an Ambassador for MQ; Mental Health Research Charity, Desree explores intersectionality, justice and social commentary. Desree was shortlisted for both the performance and film category in 2020 and recipient of the 2019's Highly Commended Out-Spoken Performance Prize. Also the finalist in 2018’s Hammer & Tongue final and TEDx speaker, Desree has featured at events around the UK and internationally, including Glastonbury Festival 2019, Bowery Poetry Club New York, Royal Albert Hall and Sofar Sounds. A producer for a series of live events called WORD UP! based in the borough of Brent, and Word of Mouth London, a video team who integrate live performances with online videos to collective stories of UK culture; Desree curates both live events and visual media, booking acts from around the world. Also, a spoken word educator and facilitator, Desree uses her art to engage with young people and adults in schools, youth groups, offices and organisations – anywhere people have a story.

https://www.iamdesree.co.uk/

Episode 115. Shanay Neusum-James opens up about the importance of embracing love and truth in her acting, writing, and her upcoming pamphlet surrender dorothy.

Shanay Neusum-James is a poet, actress and theatre-maker based in London. Her work explores black British identity and mental health. She graduated from The BRIT School in 2018 after performing at The RSC, Brighton Fringe Festival and The Southwark Playhouse and is now a member of The Roundhouse Poetry Collective 19/20. Her pamphlet will be published in August 2022 with Bad Betty Press.

Episode 114. Sierra King encourages us to document, preserve, and study Black women as she curates in real time.

Sierra King is an Atlanta-based artist, photographer and archivist. Her creative and arts administration work is dedicated to documenting, preserving and archiving the work of Black women artists. She worked as the Lead Photo Archivist for the Kathleen Cleaver Papers before it was acquired by Emory University and is currently building and preserving the archives of printmaker Jasmine Nicole Williams and director Ebony Blanding. Sierra was awarded the Billops-Hatch Fellowship Award to continue research for Build Your Archive, an interactive assessment plan to help Black women artists build their archives in real time. As of February 2021, she is a Hambidge Cross Pollination Art Lab Studio Resident and National Black Arts Festival Micro-Grant Recipient. She served as the community manager for TILA Studios in Atlanta from December 2016 - August 2021.

https://www.buildyourarchive.com

Episode 113. Essah Cozett talks about the importance of self-love and ways to practice daily rituals that bring us closer to our desires.

Please consider donating to support the Essah's Way podcast. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/essahsway

Essah Cozett Diaz is a Liberian-American poet, podcaster, and PhD candidate specializing in Literature and Language of the English-speaking Caribbean at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Her research is rooted in storytelling, migration, and African tradition healing practices. Currently, she is serving her second term as Chair of the Caribbean Without Borders Graduate Student Conference. In 2016, she founded Hermanas Del Agua to create a safe space for women to practice strategic self-care in Puerto Rico. Her writing has appeared in several international print and online publications. She loves encouraging others to move forward with ease in pursuit of their dreams. 

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.essahcozett.com/podcast

Episode 112. Khalliah Bryant opens up about mental health, balancing life as a new mompreneur, and embracing changes towards a holistic lifestyle.

Khalliah G. Bryant is a Marriage & Family Therapist serving BIPOC adults and teens in the Florida region. She is a new mom navigating parenthood during a pandemic, as well as a new business owner of her private practice: More Life Wellness, LLC. Her platform advocates for holistic wellbeing, including the promotion of a plant-based and sustainable lifestyle. Her mission is to help others in her community to live more and be well!

www.morelifewellnessllc.com

Episode 111. Jewel Tolbert reveals the importance of embracing art while providing progressive tools that sustain art education for youth in Africa.

At her core, Jewel is an artist and aesthete who sees the world through a unique lens and has an innate sensitivity toward the beauty in detail. In her spare time, she loves exploring new countries, cities, and cultures and is the founder of a non-profit organization, ART of Hearts, that leverages the power of arts education to help primary school students in rural parts of Sub-Saharan Africa reach their full potential. Jewel holds a Bachelor of Arts in business communication and graphic communication with a minor in social sciences and French from Baruch College in New York City, and a Master of Arts in design management and cultures from the University of the Arts London, London College of Communication.

www.artofhearts.org

Episode 110. Essah Cozett returns to the mic to discuss her life updates, 2022 aspirations, and reads a poem by Yrsa Daley-Ward.

Please consider donating to support the Essah's Way podcast. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/essahsway

Essah Cozett Diaz is a Liberian-American poet, podcaster, and PhD candidate specializing in Literature and Language of the English-speaking Caribbean at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Her research is rooted in storytelling, migration, and African tradition healing practices. Currently, she is serving her second term as Chair of the Caribbean Without Borders Graduate Student Conference. In 2016, she founded Hermanas Del Agua to create a safe space for women to practice strategic self-care in Puerto Rico. Her writing has appeared in several international print and online publications. She loves encouraging others to move forward with ease in pursuit of their dreams. 

https://www.essahcozett.com

Episode 109. Wayétu Moore discusses her journey as a writer, influences as a mother, and new discoveries in her writing process.

Wayétu Moore is the author of She Would Be King, released by Graywolf Press in September, 2018. Her memoir, The Dragons, The Giant, The Women was also released with Graywolf on June 2, 2020. She is the recipient of the 2019 Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction.

 

She Would Be King was named a best book of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Entertainment Weekly & BuzzFeed. The novel was a Sarah Jessica Parker Book Club selection, a BEA Buzz Panel Book, a #1 Indie Next Pick and a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award. The Dragons, The Giant, The Women was a 2020 New York Times Notable Book, Time Magazine 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020, Publishers Weekly Top 5 Nonfiction Books of 2020, was longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie medal for excellence in nonfiction, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

 

She’s a graduate of Howard University, University of Southern California and Columbia University. She lives in New York.

https://www.wayetu.com/

Episode 108. Agnes Sastre Rivera discusses her creative writing process, desires of development, and love for contemporary Puerto Rican poetry.

Agnes (she/they) is currently a Ph.D. student at Emory University’s Comparative Literature program. They majored in English Literature and have a minor in Women & Gender Studies from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Agnes is one of the founders of Fractal Puerto Rico, an educational and artistic project. They have organized creative writing workshops in public schools, literary festivals, and online groups. Their poetry book 'pequeñas catastrofes' was published in March 2021 by La Impresora. In their free time, Agnes enjoys listening to podcasts, playing with their Nintendo Switch, and watching Netflix.

http://agnessastrerivera.com/