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Mic Check Poetry Fest Showcase
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Festival headliners Ebony Stewart and Patricia Smith take the stage, with IC Speaks poets opening. Q & A to follow.
With: Patricia Smith, Ebony Stewart, & IC Speaks
Date: Saturday, Nov 12
Time: 4 pm IC Speaks // 4:30-6 pm Headliners // 6-6:30 pm Q & A
Location: In person at The Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington Street. Virtually via Englert website.
Tickets:
- Adults 19+ Fest Pass or $18
- Teens 13-18 FREE
Ticketing is through the Englert TheatRE
You can purchase tickets or register with your fest pass directly on the Englert website.
Ebony Stewart
Ebony Stewart is an international touring interdisciplinary poet, writer, and performance artist. Her work speaks to the Black experience, with emphasis on gender, sexuality, womanhood, queer-positivity, and race, with the hopes to be relatable, remove shame, heal minds, encourage dialogue, and inspire folks in marginalized communities.
As one of the most decorated poets in Texas, Ebony is a respected coach & mentor, one of the top touring poets in the country, and a Woman of the World Poetry Slam Champion. The mental health advocate and former sexual health educator also has a Master's in Social Work. She is the author of three books, BloodFresh, Home.Girl.Hood., and Love Letters to Balled Fists. Her work has been featured in Button Poetry, AfroPunk, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, The Texas Observer, Houston Public Media, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic, 2021 Colorism Healing Writing Contest, Write About Now Poetry, and more.
Patricia Smith
Patricia Smith is the award-winning author of eight critically-acclaimed books of poetry. Writing about Incendiary Art, Publisher’s Weekly praised Smith’s “razor-sharp linguistic sensibilities that give her scenes a cinematic flair and her lines a momentum that buoys their emotional weight.” A master of poetic forms from her Motown crown of sonnets to elegant ghazals, Smith’s poetry fearlessly engages with America’s continuous war on black bodies.
Smith is a Guggenheim fellow, a Civitellian, a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, a finalist for the Neustadt Prize, a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, a former fellow at both Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history. Read Patricia Smith’s full bio here.
IC Speaks
IC Speaks seeks to develop and sustain an inclusive, thriving spoken-word poetry community in Iowa City that empowers youth from all backgrounds to speak their truths.
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