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 received her MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts and fellowships from Callaloo, the Poetry Incubator, and Pink Door. In 2021, she was nominated for “Best of the Net.” She has published poems in Apogee Lit, Voicemail Poems, Tinderbox Journal, The Texas Review, and elsewhere. She has also been featured on Button Poetry’s YouTube platform and has performed at the likes of Spotify, Yahoo, and Pinterest

Akeem Olaj – Vampires

Performed at IWPS 2019 in San Diego, CA

“She wanted me to smile so everyone around me could be a little bit more comfortable with my sadness.”

Don’t miss this poem from Akeem Olaj, performing at IWPS 2019 in San Diego, CA

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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 coordinator for the Poet in the City program. Her work is featured in journals including New American Writing, Rogue Agent, Love is the Drug Anthology, Visible Ink, Opium, and in operas composed by the SFSU music department. Lara is the recipient of awards including the Browning Society Prize for Dramatic Monologue, the Daniel J Langton Poetry Prize, and the League for Innovation Poetry Prize. Lara has taught ESL and led poetry workshops in juvenile detentions centers, high schools, universities, and mental health treatment centers. She holds an MFA in poetry from San Francisco State University and is currently pursuing her second masters to become a Marriage and Family Therapist.

Zoe Tagoe – My Voice

Performed at The Town Hall in New York, NY

“These words take hold of me and revoke the authenticity of my true self.”

Don’t miss this poem from Zoe Tagoe, performing at The Town Hall in New York, NY

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