Beyond the Spark w/ Taalam Acey

Beyond the Spark w/ Dasha Kelly Hamilton

Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist, curator and facilitator. Ultimately, she’s a creative change agent, leveraging the creative process toward human and social wellness. Dasha has written for national, regional and local magazines; produced three books of poetry; recorded four spoken word albums; published two novels and an award-winning collection of micro stories; been included in several anthologies; and performed in the last season of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. Her nonprofit, Still Waters Collective, initiated literary arts programming for 20 years, creating platforms for thousands of voices to be honored and heard.  She has taught at colleges, conferences and classrooms and curated fellowships for emerging leaders. An Arts Envoy for the U.S. Embassy, Dasha has facilitated community building initiatives in Botswana, Toronto, Mauritius and Beirut. She is a former Artist of the Year and Poet Laureate for the City of Milwaukee and the 2020-2022 Poet Laureate for the State of Wisconsin. Dasha is a national Rubinger Fellow and a National Laureate Fellow with the American Academy of Poets. Touring nationally, her stage production, Makin’ Cake, uniquely engages communities in a forward dialogue on race, class and equity. Dasha is working on her third novel, a collection of poems with incarcerated writers and a documentary film.

Beyond the Spark w/ Jon Goode

Jon Goode is a multitalented author, poet, and playwright originally from Richmond, Virginia, but currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. You may recognize him from his appearances on HBO’s Def Poetry, TVOne’s Verses & Flow, and BET’s Lyric Café. His stage play Khalas was even showcased at the 2013 International Festival of Arts and Ideas. In 2006, Jon’s exceptional work with Nick @ Nite earned him an Emmy nomination and the Promax Gold for the best copyright in North America. His debut collection of poems and short stories, Conduit, was published in 2015 and has received an impressive 47 five-star reviews on Amazon. For 12 weeks, Conduit held the top spot in its category on Amazon.com and was the best-reviewed book of poetry in 2015/16. Currently, Jon serves as the host of The Moth StorySLAM in Atlanta, GA, and has also hosted and performed with The Moth both domestically and abroad. It’s no wonder why Jon Goode is highly regarded in the literary and performance worlds.

Beyond the Spark w/ Taalam Acey

Talaam Acey is an international spoken word artist who has received accolades from Amiri Baraka, Stevie Wonder, Berry Gordy, and Essence Magazine Editor Emeritus - Susan Taylor. His poetry has been featured in film and television. Acey has won spoken word awards in the US, the UK and Germany, and his work has been associated with Sundance Film Festival prizes.

Beyond the Spark w/ Sekou Andrews

Sekou Andrews is the CEO of SekouWorld, Inc. and one of the most successful spoken word poets in the world. On any given day, this school-teacher turned artist and entrepreneur, who built a 7-figure company on poetry, can be found keynoting at a Fortune 500 company, inspiring thousands at a concert, or performing for Barack Obama in Oprah’s backyard. Sekou is the creator of “poetic voice” – a cutting-edge speaking category that seamlessly fuses inspirational speaking with spoken word poetry, like “Hamilton” meets “TED”. His unique presentations are in high demand from leading associations and global brands like Google, Viacom, Toyota, Nike, and Paypal. He has been featured on ABC World News, CBS, MSNBC, HBO, Showtime, MTV and BET, and Forbes has called him “the de facto poet laureate of corporate America.” Sekou’s accomplishments include two National Poetry Slam championships, two national poetry tours, two Independent Music Awards, three Helen Hayes Awards, the most “Just Plain Folks” music awards in history, the 2020 ABA “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, and the first “Best Spoken Word Album” Grammy nomination for a poet in 30 years. A fearless disruptor of the speaking industry, Sekou also teaches rockstar secrets to public speakers through his Stage Might™ speaker training system that helps leaders become more dynamic communicators. Combining innovation and inspiration, Sekou Andrews is redefining the notion of what a speaker is, and what a poet can be.

Beyond the Spark w/ Peter Kahn

A former Chicago social worker, Peter Kahn has been an English teacher since 1994 and a Spoken Word Educator since 2003 at Oak Park/River Forest High School.  His students can be seen in Louder Than a Bomb and America to Me.  A founding member of the London poetry collective Malika’s Kitchen, he co-founded the London Teenage Poetry Slam and, as a Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths-University of London, created the Spoken Word Education Training Programme.  He earned his MA in English Education from The Ohio State University, student taught at Columbus East High School and taught for the Young Scholars Program.  Peter was a featured speaker at the National Council of Teachers of English’s annual convention and runner-up in the NCTE and Penguin Random House Maya Angelou Teacher Award for Poetry.  Along with Patricia Smith and Ravi Shankar, he edited The Golden Shovel Anthology:  New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks reviewed in The New York Times by Claudia Rankine.  Along with Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi, and former student Dan “Sully” Sullivan, he edited Respect the Mic:  Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry from a Chicagoland High School, deemed “Electric and Expansive” by Kirkus Reviews.  Peter’s 2020 poetry collection, Little Kings has poems featured in The London Guardian and The Forward Book of Poetry.