Words and Shit

Alexandra van de Kamp is the Executive Director for Gemini Ink, San Antonio’s Writing Arts Center. Her most recent books of poems are Kiss/Hierarchy (Rain Mountain Press 2016) and The Park of Upside-Down Chairs (CW Books 2010). She has also published several chapbooks, including Dear Jean Seberg (2011), which won the 2010 Burnside Review Chapbook Contest. Her poems have been published in journals nationwide, such as The Texas Observer, The Cincinnati Review, Connecticut Review, Denver Quarterly, Washington Square, 32Poems, San Antonio Express-News and more. She is currently at work on a third manuscript of poems. Her poems have been nominated for five Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net.

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Shadow and Dr. Henzbo to the Words & Sh*t stage! 

Akin "Shadow" Sawyerr is the Executive Director, and former president, of Southern Fried Poetry, Inc which owns and operates Southern Fried Poetry Slam an annual Spoken Word and Performance Poetry tournament now entering its 29th year. Recently, he produced and Organized the world's first 3D Avatar Poetry Festival, a 3-day virtual poetry festival featuring Head to Head Haiku Deathmatch, Nerd Slam and creative writing workshops. Sawyerr is also a founding member and former president of Black on Black Rhyme, LLC. For over fifteen years, he has served as host and producer of over 100 spoken word poetry events in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas. He is the owner/photographer of March 4orth Design, Inc.

Dr. Adam "Henzbo" Henze is a researcher, educator, and spoken word artist, and has shared his work in over 30 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Canada, England, and Ireland. He is the co-founder of Slam Camp, a summer writing academy for teenage poets, and is the director of The Power of a Sentence, a writing workshop series at a women’s prison in Indianapolis.

Adam earned a PhD in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education at Indiana University, where he also works as a Research Associate at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community. He currently serves as a Bureau Speaker for Indiana Humanities, is the Master of Ceremonies at the Missouri Scholar’s Academy, and is the Official Poet of the Indianapolis 500. Adam has facilitated educational programming at over a dozen prisons and juvenile detention centers in IN, FL, KY, IL, and AR. Articles about his work as an artist and educator have appeared in The Japan Times, NPR, PBS, Big Ten Network, Chalkbeat, USA Today, and The Indianapolis Star. Adam is a Program Director at Southern Fried Poetry, Inc., which hosts one of the largest and longest-running poetry slam festivals in the world.

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Big Mike to the Words & Sh*t stage! 

Mike Bertram, referred to as “Big Mike” on the stage and “Mr. B” in the classroom, has been teaching for 25+ years and is currently a 3rd Grade teacher in New Jersey. He started performing spoken word poetry in 2002 and was a member of the 2005 Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team. He was a featured poet on HBO’s Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, and the 2008 Southern Fried Individual Poetry Slam Champion. He was also the recipient of the Jersey Poetry Movement Spoken Word Pioneer Award in 2018. Big Mike has partnered with several organizations in his hometown of Rahway to provide an artistic outlet and host community events for students and adults. In 2019, he was honored as Artist of the Year in his hometown of Rahway for his work in the New Jersey poetry community.

In 2019, he released Said the Paper to the Pen, a collection of poems for teachers, students, or anyone that would like to “take a peek” inside his third-grade classroom, known as the B-Hive.

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Ebony Payne-English to the Words and Sh*t stage! 

Ebony Payne-English is an author, performance artist, and educator from Jacksonville, FL. She is the first woman to establish her own chapter of the international poetry organization, Black on Black Rhyme. Ebony is curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville’s first Hip Hop exhibition, The God MC, and is the 2017 Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Emerging Artist. As recipient of the Spoken Word Gala’s 2017 William Bell Humanitarian Award, Ebony volunteers as an Art Selection Panelist for the City of Jacksonville’s Art In Public Places Committee. She is the Managing Director of The Performers Academy and a founding member of the Southern Fried Poetry Inc. Board of Directors.

Ebony is author of the award winning poetry collection, “Secrets of Ma’at”; graphic novel, “The Random Happenings”; and has been featured in esteemed publications as well as digital outlets such as PBS’s Homegrown, The Florida Times Union, WJCT's First Coast Connect, Folio Weekly, Void Magazine, and My Black Matters. In her 16 years of professional experience, Ebony’s performance accolades include The Florida Theater, The New Orleans ‪House of Blues‬; Essence Festival; Nuyorican Café; Crossroads Theatre, TEDx, Jax by Jax as well as countless other colleges, universities, and prestigious entertainment venues nationwide. Her discography includes 6 albums: Old Soul (2006), Struggle’s Embrace (2010), EbEnFlo (2012), School Beats (2013), Know Love (2015), and Kuongoza (2020).

Ebony’s defining piece as a playwright was a one woman autobiographical entitled “On Purpose”, opened to critical acclaim April of 2017 at WJCT Television Studios in Jacksonville, FL. It’s sequel, The Goddess Experience, is slated to open at the Times-Union Center for Performing Arts next year.

ITS Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Anthony "Big Ant" Gordon to the Words and Sh*t stage! 

Anthony Gordon is an accomplished educator, slam poet and DJ originally from Detroit, MI. He is a 4-time national slam poet, the 2013 Fort Worth Slam Champion, and finished in the top 30 at 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane, WA. Big Ant is also a successful youth slam coach. He was a co-coach for the Forth Write Youth Poetry Slam and the Fresh Ink Poetry Slam (San Antonio) teams and the head coach for the Team Champions of the first DFW Louder Than a Bomb Slam Finals in 2015. He has also opened for poetry legend Nikki Giovanni.

Most recently he finished 2nd at the 2018 King Slam in San Antonio and was the winner at the 2020 King Slam during Dream Week. He was also selected twice for the Via Poetry on the Move competition in San Antonio (2016 and 2017). He was named the Best Local DJ at the DFW Poetry Awards and has served as the house DJ for upwards of four Texas slam teams and multiple other venues and events in his career. Gordon has spent 13 years in education as a teacher and both. a campus-based and regional leader throughout the state of Texas. Working predominantly in some of the state's most under-served communities, he has found great and lasting success with his students. He is currently proposing a charter school on San Antonio’s Eastside, a community with strong ties to his family's heritage. Gordon’s work is inspired by his experience, his hunger for equity, his wife Ashley and his three daughters Shawn, Parker and Carson.

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Texas Poet Laureate Carmen Tafolla to the Words and Sh*t stage and we talk about Latinx representation, language, the evolution of the Chicano movement, and so much more!

A native of San Antonio’s West Side Barrios and the author of more than 30 books, Carmen Tafolla became San Antonio’s First City Poet Laureate 2012-2014, and then in 2015, was named State Poet Laureate of Texas. Professor Emeritus at UTSA and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Americas Award, 5 International Latino Book First Prize Awards, and recognition by the National Association of Chican@ Studies for "giving voice to the peoples and cultures of this land,” Tafolla still credits her inspiration to la gente de San Antonio, this river, and the voices of ancestors “whispering over my shoulder.”

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Houston Poet Laureate Emiritus, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton to the Words and Sh*t stage! We talk about parenting, the writing process, juggling multiple projects and being multi-disciplinary, and so much more!

Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally known writer, educator, activist, and Poet Laureate Emeritus of Houston, Texas. Formerly ranked the #2 Best Female Poet in the World, she was the founder of the longest running poetry slam venue in Houston, Texas (Houston VIP Slam). Her work has appeared in Houston Noir (Akashic Press, 2019), Black Girl Magic (Haymarket Books, 2019), Fjords Journal, Crab Orchard Review, and on such platforms as NPR, BBC, ABC, Apple News, Blavity, Upworthy, and across the TedX circuit. She serves as a contributing writer to Texas Monthly. Her most recent poetry collection, Newsworthy, won honorable mention for the Summerlee Book Prize. A German translation, under the title SayTheirNames is set to be released in Fall 2021 by Elif Verlag.

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome internationally recognized poet Kyla Jenée Lacey to the Words and Sh*t stage! We talk about work as a touring poet, social media fame, the comments section, trivia games, storage containers and so much more. Listen to get to know the person behind the poetry!

Kyla Jenée Lacey is an expert third-person and tinder bio writer. She also dabbles in poetry and has been featured by Pop Sugar, In the Now, and Afro Punk. Her work has garnered upwards of 40 million views and even a few celebrities follow her, but her cats keep her humble. She is her mother’s favorite daughter, which works out because her mother happens to be her favorite mom. She’s written for Huffington Post, BET, the Root, and viral statuses that were eventually stolen from her. She has a book out called Hickory Dickory Dock, I Do Not Want Your C*ck!!!

From College Station by way of Houston, we're bringing poet, producer, organizer, and Write About Now's very own Amir Safi! Join Chibbi and Eddie V on this masterclass in community organizing, social media, accessibility, and so much more and get to know the person behind the poetry!

Amir Safi is the founder of Write About Now and his work has been featured by A Plus, Upworthy, The Huffington Post, Whataburger, and more. Most recently, he won the Poetry International Prize

This week we're featuring South Texas poet and publisher of FlowerSong Press Edward Vidaurre! Join Chibbi and Eddie V as they talk about getting into poetry, the business of publishing, finding your true authentic self, and so much more!

Edward Vidaurre’s writings have appeared or are forthcoming in the following: The New York Times Magazine, The Texas Observer, Grist, Poet Lore, The Acentos Review, Poetrybay, Voices de la Luna, as well as other journals and anthologies. Vidaurre has been a judge for submissions for the Houston Poetry Festival, editor for the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival anthology Boundless 2020, and editor of Cutthroat, a journal of the arts. Vidaurre is the author of six collections of poetry. He is the 2018-2019 City of McAllen,TX Poet Laureate, a four time Pushcart Prize nominated poet and publisher of FlowerSong Press and its sister imprint Juventud Press. Vidaurre is from Boyle Heights, CA and now resides in McAllen, TX with his wife and daughter.