“Take the Mic” series

The Brooklyn Poetry Slam is excited to announce the return of its monthly programming following the 2020 COVID-19 . Beginning on January 26, 2021, co-founders Mahogany L. Browne and Jive Poetic will curate a monthly series of virtual writing workshops and poetry showcases.

These literary events will feature some of the world’s more renowned writers and facilitators. These sessions will encourage poets and audience members to speak out and be heard during this current health crisis. Please join this vibrant online community as it relaunches this winter.

Mahogany L. Browne ​ is a writer, organizer & educator. She is the Executive Director of the Bowery Poetry Club, Artistic Director of Urban Word NYC, and Poetry Coordinator at St. Francis College. She has over two decades of experience curating and facilitating literary programming across the United States. She is the author of multiple books including Chlorine Sky (Crown/Penguin Random House) Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice (Roaring Brook/Macmillan), Woke Baby (Roaring Brook/Macmillan), Black Girl Magic (Roaring BrookMacmillan) and Kissing Caskets (Yes Yes Books), and the recipient of fellowships from Agnes Gund, the Ford Foundation, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research, and Rauschenberg Residency. She is currently at work completing her first book of essays on the impact of mass incarceration on women and children.

Jive Poetic is a writer, organizer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in Media Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute. In 2017 Jive was the first recipient of the John Morning Award for Art and Service. He is the founder of Insurgent Poets Society, Carnival Slam: Cultural Exchange, and co-founder of the Brooklyn Poetry Slam. His work has been showcased on season four of TVONE’s Lexus Verses and Flow, PBS NewsHour, and BET. International recognition and support for his work has come from the British Arts Council; US Embassies in Australia, Brazil, and Poland; and the Minister Of Culture in Antigua and Barbuda. He has received fellowships from Air Serenbe and Rhode Island Writers Colony, and when he is not on tour or hosting, he teaches poetry and hip hop workshops to at risk youth in New York City and the surrounding area.