Find Your Origin: Spoken Word Workshop

April is National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate the important role poetry plays in our culture, not only as a beautiful literary art, but as tools for self-expression, activism, and social commentary. Spoken word poetry is a popular performance style of poetry, rooted in oral traditions and often with elements of hip-hop, rap, storytelling, and theater, full of rhythm, wordplay, and improvisation. It's a lot of fun to watch, write, and perform. Many YA authors who write teen books in verse are also spoken word poets, like Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X, and Mahogany L. Browne, author of Vinyl Moon. (In fact, I highly recommend getting The Poet X as an audiobook instead of a print book -- you can do that through Libby!)

We have an awesome workshop next week with spoken word poet and teaching artist, C. Lofty Bolling, through the Young Chicago Authors organization. They do writing workshops and a poetry festival called Rooted and Radical (previously Louder than a Bomb), which is happening this month. If you've ever been interested in learning more about how to express yourself with performance poetry or writing in verse in a safe, supportive space, check out our workshop next Wednesday, April 27, at 7pm. You can sign up for it here -- it's virtual, so all you need is your imagination and something to write with. We'll be talking fake origin stories, what they are, and how they work. We will laugh at some, question others, and eventually write our own.