April is National Poetry Month and to help us celebrate we’ve invited Youth Speaks Alum to discuss the upcoming benefit for their annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, set to take place July 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
We spoke with EJ Walls (Sin Q), Gretchen Carvajal and Isa Nakazawa, the Director of Marketing. Special thanks to Candi Martinez (Event Producer + Publicist) for coordinating this conversation.
Monday, May 6th 2019
Hella Poetry – A Benefit for Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival
Presented by Youth Speaks and City Arts and Lectures
Online: CityBox Office
Guests:
EJ Walls (Sin Q) is an artist & educator who recently returned home to the Bay Area. Before teaching middle school and high school humanities in San Diego, California, the Brave New Voices alum and Bay Area MC Olympics Champion studied Communication with a minor in Spanish at San Diego State University, where he had opportunities to share stages with several renowned poets and emcees. He also studied abroad and blazed stages in Puebla, Mexico and Ghana, West Africa, had the pleasure of opening for artists such as Travis Scott, Casey Veggies, and TDE rhymesayer Ab-Soul, and headlined a show in San Diego as half of the rap duo KYNG$. EJ is ecstatic to return to Youth Speaks as a staff member to support young artists and leaders in the development of their identities and voice.
Gretchen Carvajal is a multi disciplinary artist from the Bay Area currently residing in the central valley. Gretchen is a Youth Speaks alum and recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Under the First Wave Spoken Word and Hip-Hop Arts Scholarship, she studied Studio Art with a focus on Printmaking and Neon. She has performed on stages in Chicago, New York, the Philippines and beyond working with artists like Saul Williams, Juan Miguel Severo, and Ruby Ibarra among others. As a 1.5 generation Filipina immigrant, she turned to writing to make sense of her identity. Now, she works to combine her visual and literary arts experience to create stories that can be universally understood. When she’s not writing and performing, you can catch her with her headphones on making earrings under her brand, BRWNGRLZ.COM
Isa Nakazawa is a San Francisco based writer, performer, teaching artist and activist. After graduating from Wesleyan University in 2008 with a degree in Sociology and American Studies, Isa jumped coasts to join Youth Speaks as a Poet Mentor. As a cultural critic and music journalist, Isa has both maintained her own blog, Buggin’ Out and contributed pieces to notable media outlets including Okayplayer, Colorlines, NPR, Turnstyle, The Revivalist and KPFA. Since 2009, Isa has co-hosted a weekly radio show on AllDayPlay called “The Parked Car” that features interviews with artists, regular guest DJ sets and reviews of local concerts. Isa is currently the Communications and Program Associate at Youth Speaks.
