Mic Check Poetry Fest Showcase

Sarah Kay

Sarah Kay is a writer, performer, and educator from New York City. She is best known for her talk at the 2011 TED conference, which garnered two standing ovations and ha sbeen seen over thirteen million times online. Sarah has shared her poems in cornfields in Iowa, an orthodontist office in Nepal, a viking ship on a fjord in Norway, a nightclub in Singapore, the Royal Danish Theater in Denmark, Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Kennedy Center in DC, the back rooms of dive-bars, middle school gymnasiums, and once on top of someone’s dining room table. Her poetry can be found on Netflix tv shows, Uniqlo t-shirts, and bookstore shelves. She is the author of four best-selling books of poetry including “B,” “The Type,” “No Matter the Wreckage,” and “All Our Wild Wonder.” Sarah holds a Masters Degree in The Art of Teaching from Brown University and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Grinnell College. She is the founder and co-director of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry to entertain, educate, and inspire students and teachers worldwide.

Phil Kaye

Phil Kaye is a Japanese-American poet. His work has been featured in settings ranging from NPR to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and viewed millions of times online. He has performed his original work in eighteen countries and was invited to open for His Holiness The Dalai Lama for the celebration of his 80th birthday. He is the co-director of Project VOICE, an organization that partners with schools to bring poetry to the classroom. A former teacher of weekly poetry workshops in maximum security prisons, Phil was the head coordinator of Space in Prisons for the Arts and Creative Expression (SPACE). Phil is a National Poetry Slam finalist, and the two-time recipient of the National College Poetry Slam (CUPSI) award for “Pushing the Art Forward”, given for outstanding innovation in the art of live poetry. His book, Date &Time, was published in 2018 by Button Poetry.

Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey

Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey is an author, performer, and producer. His debut book, Look, Black Boy, was awarded first prize in the North Street Book Prize, and his second book, Heart Notes was published in 2019. He released two spoken word albums and in 2023, as a part of the Brucemore Artisan in Studio program, Caleb produced his first short film, Willing to Grow. He is the winner of several slams across the United States, and competed in the 2023 UNESCO Slam-0-Vision global poetry slam where he ranked 7th worldwide. He has shared the stage with spoken word titans such as Siaara Freeman, Denice Frohman, Javon Johnson, Ebony Stewart, Anthony McPherson, Danez Smith and Patricia Smith, and videos of his performances can be found on his YouTube channel, Write About Now, and Button Poetry.

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. Discover IC Speaks.