Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! Mass Poetry Teen Spoken Word Festival

Our weekend long festival will kick-off with welcome ceremony and showcase, hosted by Amanda Shea. The ceremony will feature talented and creative artists including Melissa Lozada-Oliva, José Olivarez, Brandie Blaze, Tim Hall and more!

This event will take place at the Grub Street Stage.

Headliner bios:

Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Melissa is the author of peluda, Dreaming of You, and Candelaria, which was named one of the best books of 2023 by USA TODAY and VOGUE. Her work has been featured in Harper's Bazaar, NPR, and BBC Mundo. She is the co-host of the podcast Say More and runs a substack called READING SUCKS. She earned her MFA from NYU in 2020 and she lives in Brooklyn.


José Olivarez
José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants, and the author of two collections of poems, including, most recently, Promises of Gold—which was long listed for the 2023 National Book Awards. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. Along with Felicia Rose Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT.


Brandie Blaze
Brandie Blaze is a hip hop artist from Boston, Massachusetts. Heavily inspired by Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliot, Blaze spreads her message of "trap feminism" through her hard hitting bars and dynamic stage presence. Performing since the age of 3, she started writing poetry in middle school and transitioned to rapping in high school. Blaze has had the pleasure of opening for such artists as GZA of Wu Tang, JPEGMAFIA, STL GLD, Bbymutha and Trina. She has also been featured in publications such as NPR, Vanyaland, Allston Pudding, Dig Boston, Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe, Elle Italia, Madame Rap and grammy.com. Brandie is a 3x Boston Music Award Nominee, was a part of the 2023 line up of Boston Calling and a 2024 Celtics halftime performer.


Tim Hall
Tim Hall is an award winning Educator, Artist, and Entrepreneur, from Detroit, MI, who now resides in Boston, MA. He began playing alto saxophone at the age of 10. In college, Hall found poetry and used this form of creative expression to share his thoughts on paper. Tim Hall draws inspiration from his lived experiences - charting the nuances of blackness, masculinity, and the beauties of life. As a musician, Hall has shared stages with world-renowned recording artists such as The Nappy Roots, Carolyn Malachi, Bilal, Chris Turner, and Aloe Blacc. His poetry has been heard at Boston's Hub Week, The Museum of Fine Arts, Berklee College of Music, Outside the Box Festival, Bridgin' Gaps Festival, and many other venues and poetry slam communities around the Boston/Greater Boston area.

This time will be used for competing teams and coaches to check in and prepare for their Preliminary Slam. 

Check in to the Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! Teen Spoken Word Festival at GrubStreet (50 Liberty Street Suite 500, Boston, MA 02210) on the 2nd floor in the Grub Street Community Space.

Cool down time throughout the festival for those who need it. This will be taking place in Grub Street Room 1.

The Write Here | Write Now | Speak Out! Team Slam Competition begins. Four teams will compete against each other in this bout, the top 2 winning teams will go on to compete in the Team Slam Finals. Two bouts will occur simultaneously in different locations at the Festival. This prelim will be taking place at the Grub Street Stage.


Competing Teams:

• Greater Lowell Technical High School
• Gathering Waters Charter School
• GrubStreet
• John D. O'Bryant High School

The Write Here | Write Now | Speak Out! Team Slam Competition begins. Four teams will compete against each other in this bout, the top 2 winning teams will go on to compete in the Team Slam Finals. This prelim will take place at the ICA Stage.


Competing Teams:

• Spoken Word @ Mass Poetry (SW@MP)
• Lowell High School
• Amherst
• Newburyport High School

Please Note: Adding an event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in a workshop. Capacity for workshop spaces limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a workshop is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

This workshop will take place in Grub Street Room 2.

Workshop Description
This generative workshop pairs the visual art form of collage with collage poetry. Participants will walk away with their own hand-crafted collage and the seeds of poems, deeper knowledge and experience with a visual art form, and a found poetry technique to exercise in their practice. I strongly believe that collage is an accessible artistic outlet that anyone can enjoy, and I’d love for participants to walk away from this workshop feeling empowered by this creative tool. 

Below is a draft outline of the session:
—Introduction to Collage as a Visual Art Form: I will briefly introduce the concept of collage as a visual art form, its ties to Dadaist & Surrealist art movements, and how the process of collaging parallels writing a poem. I will provide examples of collages from both world-renowned and local artists to help get participants in a mindset that explores the possibilities of collage. The main takeaway from this segment is that collages give us a doorway into the surreal, which can fuel the imagination and many poems.

—Introduction of Collage Poetry: Following context on collage as a visual art form, I will transition to briefly introducing the concept of collage poetry, how this poetic technique mirrors the visual art form, and provide examples of collage poems. I will highlight the principles of found poetry and its artistic value as both a source of inspiration and a legitimate poetic output.

—Selection of Collage Materials: Equipped with context about collages and college poetry, participants will be given approximately 10 minutes to select images, materials, and text that they find compelling. They will have magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, scraps, stickers, poems, and other materials to choose from. Small chipboard canvases will be provided. Additionally, I will encourage participants to look at any writing drafts that they were not satisfied with or notes that they’ve taken and repurpose them for this exercise—picking out images, language, or phrases that can be recontextualized for collage. This is an exciting process of discovery that helps participants lean into their aesthetic preferences and intuition.

—Generative Segment-Collages & Poetry: Once materials are selected, participants will be given time to create their visual collages and compose the seeds of an accompanying poem. Participants can choose to incorporate their poems or lines from the poems on the collages directly or not. The collage materials they previously selected serve as an individualized writing prompt for each participant. Near the end of our time, I will give participants the opportunity to share what they have created with the group, whether it is lines from their collage poems, the collage itself, or both.

Instructor Bio
Leticia Priebe Rocha is a poet, visual artist, and editor. She is the author of In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like (Bottlecap Press, 2024). Leticia earned her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, FL at the age of 9 and currently resides in the Greater Boston area. Her work has been published in Salamander, Rattle, Pigeon Pages, Protean Magazine, and elsewhere. Leticia is also a Reader for Yellow Arrow Journal and served as Guest Editor for the EMBLAZON issue. For more information, visit her website: leticiaprieberocha.com.

Please Note: Adding an event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in a workshop. Capacity for workshop spaces limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a workshop is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

This workshop will take place at Grub Street Room 5.

Workshop Description 
If Love is an action, what are the actions we take to Love ourselves every day which are begging to be noticed? What actions create the futures we want to see?

In this generative workshop we will be guided by Bell Hooks, Jeffrey McDaniel, Adrienne Maree Brown and Venus Kii Thomas to find romance in our day-to-day existence as a practice of presence and political necessity.

Please Note: Adding an event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in a workshop. Capacity for workshop spaces limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a workshop is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

This workshop will be taking place in Grub Street Room 3/4.

Workshop Description
This is a workshop where poets will interact with a variety of portraiture in art, writing, and media. They will lead up to a writing prompt from a series of writing related activities.

The Last Chance Slam is a young poet's (age 13 - 19) final opportunity to compete for a spot in the Individual Slam Finals on Sunday, May 5th. Poets looking to compete can sign-up day of. The slam will consist of 2 rounds. Therefore, be sure to come with at least two poems that fall within the 3 min and 30 second time limit. The Last Chance Slam will have five slots open for signing up at registration, Saturday, May 4th, at 10am. The other five slots are reserved for Saturday at 3pm. Only the 1st place winner of this slam will advance to the Individual Slam Finals. The Last Chance Slam will take place at the Grub Street Stage.

Even if you're not competing, come check out some excellent poetry from poets and peers alike!

Note for Competing Poets:
Before choosing to compete, know that the winners of the Individual Slam Finals will be forming a Mass Poetry slam team, which will compete at the Brave New Voices Festival in Washington D.C. on the weekend of July 17th-21st.
To prepare for the Festival in July, the Mass Poetry team will be meeting weekly. Hybrid options will be available through the end of the school year, but once summer begins, meetings will be in-person in Boston. If you are unable to make this commitment, we ask that you only attend the slam as an audience members. All audience members are welcome to watch the show!

Please Note: Adding an event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in a workshop. Capacity for workshop spaces limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a workshop is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

This workshop will take place in Grub Street Room 5.


Workshop Description
A performance workshop to coax poems off a page, where they can shine onstage! Poets will be coached through different techniques to maximize impact of their spoken words. We’ll conclude with a mini open-mic to showcase growth. If possible, please bring a printed* copy of at least one completed piece, on which you would like to workshop your performance.

Please Note: Adding an event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in a workshop. Capacity for workshop spaces limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a workshop is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

This workshop will take place in Grub Street Room 3/4.

Description
During this session, teens will learn how to put words together to make rhyme schemes that work, we will learn and execute all the ways to concoct a 16 bar verse using, double entendres, alliteration and more, to be performed at the end of the workshop as a cypher. The goal of this workshop is to get the teens to think freely about rhyming.

Instructor Bio:
Hailing from Roxbury, Cakeswagg is set to perform at this year's Boston Calling Music Festival, showcasing her reputation in Boston’s hip-hop scene for captivating performances, lyrical skill, and a vibrant personality. Nominated for Video of the Year at the 2023 Boston Music Awards for her track "Big Plays," Cakeswagg draws inspiration from creative legends like Missy Elliot and Kendrick Lamar.

But the story doesn't end there. Beyond her musical achievements, she's making an enduring impact on Boston’s youth as a theater teacher and hip-hop instructor. From igniting creative sparks in elementary school children to mentoring aspiring high school talents, Cakeswagg is shaping her community’s future artists.

Please Note: Adding an event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in a workshop. Capacity for workshop spaces limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a workshop is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

This workshop will take place in Grub Street Room 6.

Workshop Description
The Native Tongue Social Justice Poetry Workshop is a space of decolonizing the constructs of language as we know it to celebrate our cultural backgrounds. In this session, we will present, analyze and discuss various representations of BIPOC identity through spoken word poetry. We will tap into our own interpretations of these works by creating poems to share.


Instructor Bio
Lyrical Faith is a Black American Educator, Activist and Spoken Word Poet from The Bronx, NY. She has been featured at colleges, universities, and venues across the country and globally. She is the 3rd ranked Woman Poet in the World as of the 2022 Women of the World Poetry Slam, a two-time Bronx Poet Laureate finalist, a multi-time award recipient of citywide and statewide arts agencies, and the 2015 Syracuse University Poet of the Year. 


She’s a graduate of the Public Relations program at Syracuse University, a Masters degree recipient of the Higher Education & Student Affairs program at NYU, and a current Social Justice Education Doctoral student at UMass Amherst studying the intersections of arts and activism. Her work has been featured on NPR, Button Poetry, Write About Now Poetry, Huffington Post Black Voices, and News 12 The Bronx. 

Hosted by D. Ruff, Jha D. and Phree, this open mic is a non-competitive opportunity to share your work! If you just want to listen, come basque in the work of your peers! An open mic would not be an open mic without a supportive audience to snap, clap, cry and deeply sigh. We'll have a first come first serve sign up list for those who'd like to read, and a guest host to guide the experience. This event is for youth Festival participants only.

This open mic will take place immediately after the Last Chance Slam, in the same venue at the Grub Street Stage. Competitors in the slam and non-competitors are welcome to participate. 

Please Note: Adding this event to your personal sched does not guarantee you a spot in the open mic. Capacity for open mics are limited. We recommend arriving as early as possible. In the case a the is filled to capacity, please check out some of our other great Festival programming.

Welcome to the Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! Team Slam Finals. Winning teams from all 4 Preliminary Slams will compete to determine the ultimate winner of Mass Poetry's Teen Spoken Word Festival. There will also be a headline reader to add to the exciting energy of the night! Doors will open at 5:30 PM, the event will begin at 6:00 PM. This event will take place at the ICA Stage.

Hosted by the ICA, enjoy a dance party and other festivities for the ICA's Teen Night after Team Slam Finals wrap up!

Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! host a Post-High School Resource Fair as an opportunity for young poets to explore ways of continuing their creative practices beyond high school involvement. The fair will include both ways of pursuing the arts in academia, and ways of incorporating and pursuing arts through social and community involvement. After the fair, vendors from the fair will sit on a panel to discuss the role of poetry and creative expression in their lives, and answer questions from festival participants. The Post-High School Fair schedule is as follows:

Welcome & Vendor Introductions 

• 1:00-1:30pm: Post High School Resource Fair vendors will introduce themselves to teen participants.

Resource Fair

• 1:30-3:00pm: Teens will have about an hour and a half to explore the fair and engage with different vendors. Vendors will be selling merchandise, promoting programs, and leading activities.

Panel Discussion and Q&A 

• 3:00-4:00pm: Several fair vendors will sit on a panel to discuss their practices and affiliations more in depth. Teens will have the opportunity to ask questions in a group setting.

*Please Note: Adults (Ages 25+) are only allowed to attend the Post-High School Fair if they are accompanied by a Teen chaperone.

Welcome to the Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! Individual Slam Finals! Thirteen brave young poets will compete for a spot to represent Mass Poetry at the Brave New Voices (BNV) festival put on by Youth Speaks. This year the festival will take place in Washington D.C. on July 17th-20th. Our BNV team will be led by Crystal Valentine and Anthony Febo. Preliminary rounds for this competition will be held in various locations leading up to the festival in May.