Quintessential Poetry: A Global Poetry & Spoken Word Poetry Podcast

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Ellen Thea is an award winning performance poet, drummer, dancer, and holistic counselor, utilizing tarot, astrology, crystals and energy work. Her life’s journey has taken her from New York City to South Florida to rural Alaska. She has been writing and performing almost her entire life, learning to write and starting dance at age 4 with her first audition (on Broadway) at age 5, writing, directing and performing original sketches by third grade. Growing up in the cultural wonderland of NYC in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, Ellen decided to use words and movement as both her paintbrush and medium. Ellen received a bachelor’s degree (B.S.) in Psychology with an (almost) minor degree in theatre from Union College, Schenectady, NY in 1978. Her master’s degree is from Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Florida 1996 in Marriage and Family Therapy with a specialization in medical family therapy. After college, Ellen moved to South Florida where she had her three children (now adults). After suffering a head injury from a vicious mugging, she heeded the counsel of a Cherokee medicine woman, who sent her to Alaska for a healing walk in 2004. She’s made her home in rural Alaska ever since. Her awards: Bitterroot Poetry Magazine Award 1986, the Douglas Freels Poetry Award 2002, the Dancing Poetry Competition 2013, and the Poetry Matters Award 2014. Her book, “On My Way To The Apocalypse” (a non-linear 55 page prose poem) was published by Dingaroo Press in 2012 (That same year Ellen became a grandmother). She’s created and performed her original works (full shows and as a featured artist) in Florida, Ohio, New York, Michigan, and Alaska. Her work (both writing and esoteric) has been featured on various radio programs. She’s also been a news reader and d.j. on the local radio station in Alaska. Ellen has also created a number of specialized curriculums and workshops for children through adult learners.

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Freddy Niagara Fonseca, Renaissance man, poet, dramatic reader, originally from South America, has authored two poetry books. The first one, a poetry anthology, This Enduring Gift - A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry was published in 2010. His second book, a mystical and humorous poetry collection, The Bomb That Blew Up God And Other Serious Poems featuring his own poems, saw the light ten years later in 2020. Freddy has performed in public numerous times in his own Candlelight Reading Series, presenting multi-faceted World Poetry events of all eras and cultures with the collaboration of musicians, dancers, actors and expressive readers. Quite favorably reviewed in BookLife by Publishers Life, The Bomb That Blew Up God was listed in a Notable Iowa Books column of the Spring 2021 edition of Ottumwa Life. These days you can frequently hear him reciting at various Zoom open mic venues. He lives in Fairfield, Iowa.

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Meghan Zipin is an author and mama who shares her time writing with discovering half eaten snacks around the house and ensuring her children stay little for as long as possible.

Meghan’s debut poetry collection, First Light (2023, Nymeria Publishing), follows her path from the Boston Marathon bombing to the birth of her third son nine years later.

Meghan writes with an intention to make her readers feel something in their body and asks them to look at the world with a tender set of eyes.

Meghan received her MBA from Boston College and her Masters in physical therapy from Northeastern University. She now lives on eleven acres in New Hampshire with her husband, three curly haired boys and their dog Oona.

https://www.meghanzipin.com

https://www.amazon.com/First-Light-Meghan-Zipin/dp/B0BP9VT1C3

https://instagram.com/mismegs82?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://www.facebook.com/meghan.zipin?mibextid=LQQJ4d

https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-delaney-zipin-51851a35

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Founder of Poetry X Hunger: Bringing a World of Poetry to the Anti-Hunger Cause, Larew has also published poetry in places including Contemporary American Voices and Best Poetry Online. His most recent collection, Patchy Ways, was published in 2023 by CyberWit Press.  He lives in Maryland, USA.

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Hiram-Larew/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AHiram+Larew

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084745897034

https://www.poetryxhunger.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiram-larew-4031b411/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2HvjjuM-Y

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A non-binary poet, Karen Poppy’s debut full-length poetry collection, Diving at the Lip of the Water, is forthcoming in 2023 with Beltway Editions. Her chapbooks Crack Open / Emergency (2020) and Our Own Beautiful Brutality (2021) are both published by Finishing Line Press. Her chapbook, Every Possible Thing, is published by Homestead Lighthouse Press (2020). An attorney licensed in California and Texas, Karen Poppy lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

https://karenpoppy.com/

https://m.facebook.com/KarenPoppyPage/

https://www.amazon.com/Diving-Lip-Water-Karen-Poppy/dp/1957372036

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Regina YC Garcia is a Poet, Language Artist, and English Professor from Greenville, NC. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill (BA) and East Carolina University (MAEd) with a Graduate Certificate in Multicultural and Transnational Literature, her work has appeared in a variety of journals,reviews,and anthologies, to include The AutoEthnographer, the South Florida Poetry Journal, Up the Staircase Quarterly, New Note Poetry, The Amistad, The Main Street Rag, The Book of Black, Black and…, and numerous others. Her work has also been featured in a Mid-South Emmy Award winning episode of PBS' Muse featuring "The Black Light Project" (UNC TV), as well as the Sacred Nine Project of Tulane University. She is the author of The Firetalker's Daughter published by Finishing Line Press in March 2023.

Firetalker's Daughter https://a.co/d/9SoA1E9

https://www.profesoragina.com

https://twitter.com/profesoragina?t=7YMF2ZnGrCjmDr7Q2taAMA&s=09

https://www.facebook.com/regina.y.garcia?mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://www.linkedin.com/in/regina-garcia-126370b

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Skaja Evens is a writer and artist living in Southeast Virginia. She edits It Takes All Kinds, a litzine published by Mōtus Audāx Press. She’s been published in Spillwords Press, The Dope Fiend Daily, The Rye Whiskey Review, Medusa's Kitchen, Synchronized Chaos, Blue Pepper, Ink Pantry, Off The Coast, Black Shamrock, and The Crossroads Lit Magazine. She often listens to music, considers the impossible, and enjoys her cats’ antics.

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Nayma Chamchoun is a British Moroccan, a self taught writer and poet. Her writing is influenced by her cultural duality. She is interested in female voices in the diaspora community, the challenges they face within both communities and the taboos around mental health within their ancestral communities.

She is an active member of british & international poetry community. Her published poetry collection  COVID: THE WORDY WILDS OF A MIND UNDER LOCKDOWN is a cultural fusion poetry collection which explores themes of identity, duality, displacement, loss, race, feminism, culture, family, love and the search for inner peace as experienced alongside the effects of mental health, menopause, the pandemic and world events.

https://www.amazon.com/Covid-Wordy-Wilds-Under-Lockdown/dp/1869848314/ref=sr_1_4?qid=1664579796&refinements=p_n_publication_date%3A1250228011&s=books&sr=1-4

https://www.facebook.com/N.Chamchoun

https://twitter.com/NChamchoun

https://www.instagram.com/n.chamchoun/

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Wyatt Welch grew up on the Interstates after being kidnapped by their father, a troubled veteran of the Vietnam War. A Floridian and long-time Tucsonan, questioning the boundaries of Self and the State has been the work of their recent poetry, alongside other poetic concerns such as living gay/transgender in the United States.

Welch earned their MA in Linguistics from the University of Florida and has been published in various journals.

Their debut book of poetry, Capitalism Calls Poetry Lazy, was released in 2022 by FlowerSong Press.

https://wyattwelch.org/

Amazon.com: Capitalism Calls Poetry Lazy: 9781953447586: Welch, Wyatt: Books

https://www.instagram.com/poetrywyattwelch/

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Bill Cushing lived in various states, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico before moving to California where he resides with his wife and their son. Returning to college after serving in the Navy and working on ships, he was called the “blue collar poet” by his peers at the University of Central Florida. He later earned an MFA from Goddard College. Published in journals and anthologies, online and in print, Bill has four complete collections; his first book, A Former Life, was honored by a Kops-Fetherling International Book Award; Music Speaks won Spectrum’s San Gabriel Valley chapbook award in 2019 and a New York City Book Award in 2021. His last chapbook , . . .this just in. . ., combines selected writings with visual art. Bill’s new book, Just a Little Cage of Bone, was released by Southern Arizona Press in February.

Just a Little Cage of Bone: Collected Poems: Cushing, Bill, Gilliland, Paul: 9781960038104: Amazon.com: Books