Poets

By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, Button Poetry hopes to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.

Topaz Winters

Topaz Winters is the author of the full-length poetry collections So, Stranger (2022), Portrait of My Body as a Crime I’m Still Committing (2019) & poems for the sound of the sky before thunder (2017). She is the… MORE

Ollie Schminkey

Ollie Schminkey is a non-binary transgender poet and artist living in St. Paul, MN. They have spent the past decade coaching, mentoring, teaching classes, and running workshops for poets. They are the author of three chapbooks, as well… MORE

FreeQuency

Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa is a Kenyan, Immigrant, Shoga|Queer storyteller, speaker & feeler. The 2018 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, a 2017 TEDWomen speaker and ranked 3rd at the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam, FreeQuency is a… MORE

Edythe Rodriguez

Edythe Rodriguez is an Upper Darby poet and copywriter, hardcore Bustelo drinker and non-violent Beyhive member. She is the first place winner of the 2022 Button Poetry Chapbook Contest, the 2022 Sandy Crimmins Poetry Prize from Philadelphia Stories,… MORE

DeShara Suggs-Joe

DeShara is a queer, Black poet and visual artist. She co-founded Daughter’s Tongue (an all-women writing collective), worked as the Creative Director of Workshops at Winter Tangerine, and is a former member of the Youth Speaks Collective. She… MORE

Neil Hilborn

Neil Hilborn is a College National Poetry Slam champion, and a 2011 graduate with honors from Macalester College with a degree in Creative Writing. He has two full-length collections of poetry: Our Numbered Days (Button Poetry, 2015) and… MORE

Lara Coley

Lara Coley is San Franciscan educator, living in France to save money on rent. She is a former fellow artist-in-residence at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, Co-Curator for VelRo Weekly Reading Series, Editor-in-Chief of Transfer Magazine, and… MORE

Ty Chapman

Ty Chapman is the author of SARAH RISING (Beaming 2022); LOOKING FOR HAPPY (Beaming 2023); A DOOR MADE FOR ME, written with Tyler Merritt (WorthyKids 2022); TARTARUS (Button Poetry 2024); as well as multiple forthcoming children’s books through… MORE

Miya Coleman

Miya Coleman is a spoken word artist by way of Chicago, IL. Discovering her passion for poetry in 2012. She has performed for Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and the Congressional Black Caucus, Harvard University, as well as been crowned… MORE

Rudy Francisco

Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A in Psychology and decided to continue his education by pursuing a M.A in Organizational Studies. As… MORE