Listen to the Poet: Writing, Performance, and Community in Youth Spoken Word Poetry

by Wendy R. Williams

Youth spoken word poetry groups are on the rise in the United States, offering safe spaces for young people to write and perform. These diverse groups encourage members to share their lived experiences, decry injustices, and imagine a better future. At a time when students may find writing in school alienating and formulaic, composing in these poetry groups can be refreshingly relevant and exciting.

Listen to the Poet investigates two Arizona spoken word poetry groups―a community group and a high school club―that are both part of the same youth organization. Exploring the writing lives and poetry of several members, Wendy R. Williams takes readers inside a writing workshop and poetry slam and reveals that schools have much to learn about writing, performance, community, and authorship from groups like these and from youth writers themselves.

216 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2018

About the author

Wendy R. Williams is the editor of www.newyorkcool.com. Williams is also a playwright; three of her plays have been produced Off-Broadway in New York City. Wendy's screenplay "Hit Girl" was awarded honorable mention in the 2020 Screenplay Festival. "Texas Toast" was previously a finalist at the Moondance Film Festival.

"Murder at the Top of the Stairs: A Caleigh O'Neill Story" is the first in a series of international crime novels set in the implausible but true intersections between Eastern European crime lords and global mega-rich society. The second in the series, "Murder in Mallorca," was published on Amazon in February of 2021. The third book in the series, "Murder in the Leeward Islands," was published in the summer of 2021. Book four of the series, "Murder in Windsor," was published in February of 2022. Book Five and the final (maybe?) book in the series will be published in July 2022

Wendy previously published a series of tween novels. "The Big Apple Posse: Escape From New York" is the first in a series of Teen Action Adventure novels. The second book, "Escape from New Orleans," and the third book, "The Big Apple Posse: Escape From Los Angeles," are all for sale at Amazon.com. "The Big Apple Posse Trilogy" is the omnibus edition for the three "Big Apple" books. "Solange's Song," the Young Adult sequel for "The Big Apple Trilogy," is for sale on Amazon.com