New York City's 8th Annual Youth Poet Laureate Grand Slam
December 16, 2016
On a brisk November evening last year, Harlem poet Nkosi Nkululeko walked onto the stage of the 92nd Street Y. In the glow of the violet-colored stage lights, he drew parallels between political engagement and the death of a roach in his poem, “How It Sounded to Squish a Cockroach.”
The performance won Nkosi the title of 2016 NYC Youth Poet Laureate (YPL), making him the 7th in a line of talented young poets. The NYC YPL program is a voting-themed spoken word competition, and the goal of the program is to excite young New Yorkers about civic engagement through creative self-expression. The Youth Poet Laureate works with NYC Votes to reach young voters across the five boroughs, promoting voting and engagement at public events, through programming and peer-to-peer engagement. Through Urban Word NYC, the winner also receives a book deal and a platform to advocate for the issues they are passionate about.
The previous Laureate, Crystal Valentine, reached millions with her poetry and message of civic engagement, contributing a piece in the Daily News and making a guest appearance on Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC. 2014’s winner, Ramya Ramana, performed at the inauguration of current Mayor Bill De Blasio.
Now it’s time to determine NYC’s 2017 Laureate! On December 17th, NYC Votes and Urban Word NYC, in collaboration with The New York Public Library, will present New York City's 8th annual Youth Poet Laureate (YPL) Grand Slam. 15 poets between the ages of 14 and 19, chosen from a pool of 60 applicants, will compete for the honor of serving as the city's 2017 YPL This year, applicants were required to submit a portfolio of six poems addressing civic and community engagement, activism, and issues of personal significance. The portfolio included a “one minute” poem on the importance of voting and a link to a YouTube video of the applicant performing a poem.
Tickets to the event are free and can be reserved here. The show will also be livestreamed here. For group tickets, email Aisha Ahmad-Post at aishaahmadpost@nypl.org.
The event will be hosted by Angel Nafis, the author of BlackGirl Mansion and co-coordinator of The Other Black Girl Collective, an internationally touring black feminist poetry duo. She is an Urban Word NYC mentor and the founder and curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon. In 2016, Nafis was a recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation.
Learn about all of NYC’s Youth Poet Laureates here:
- 2016 Youth Poet Laureate — Nkosi Nkululeko
- 2015 Youth Poet Laureate — Crystal Valentine
- 2014 Youth Poet Laureate — Ramya Ramana
- 2013 Youth Poet Laureate — Ashley August
- 2012 Youth Poet Laureate — Ishmael Islam
- 2011 Youth Poet Laureate — Justin Long Moton
- 2010 Youth Poet Laureate — Zora Howard