Multi Arts Amherst!

Friday, November 9th at 7pm
Food For Thought Books
106 North Pleasant Street in downtown Amherst

WORD WARRIORS: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution
Release Party and Booksigning

Prize-winning Editor/Poet/Performer Alix Olson will be joined by Lenelle Moise and other contributors to Word Warriors

On Friday, November 9th, at 7pm, prize-winning editor/poet/performer Alix Olson will host an energetic evening of spoken word brilliance by the poets whose work she has collected in WORD WARRIORS at Food For Thought Books in downtown Amherst. Artists taking the mic will include Northampton-based poet/performer/playwright Lenelle Moise.

While performance poetry was male-dominated in its inception, in recent years, women spoken word artists have become some of the most popular voices nationwide. This demanding oral poetry of the early 21st century has defined a vanguard of lithely muscled voices; women who think and act decisively to create their distinctive and desperately earned realities. The combination of the eminent slam movement and the upsurge of bold, underground feminisms created a unique pool of women verbally challenging society on all fronts.

WORD WARRIORS is the first all-women spoken word anthology, featuring the most influential female spoken word artists in the movement. Each contributor is a published writer, accomplished performer, and has received numerous accolades for her contributions to this art form. Contributors include Patricia Smith and Eileen Myles, two of the most formidable and famous spoken word foremothers. Tony Award–winner Sarah Jones talks about breaking into the mainstream, while Michelle Tea contributes her thoughts on class and sexual politics. We also hear the unique feminist perspective of Suheir Hammad and Trinidadian poet Lynne Procope, while Haitian artist Lenelle Moise shares the frustrations of performing for a Western audience. Each contributor provides a new and well-known spoken word piece, accompanied by an original essay about a pivotal moment or significant experience within her individual spoken word career, offering an illuminating peek into the artist’s thought process, a rare chance for the reader to become intimate with the poet.

Alix Olson is an internationally touring folk poet and progressive queer artist-activist. One part peace vigil, one part protest rally, and one part joyful raucous concert, Alix ignites audiences everywhere she performs. Since winning the 1998 National Poetry Slam and the OutWrite LGBT Slam in 1999, Alix Olson has coauthored Burning Down the House, published two books of poetry, and produced two spoken word CDs and the award-winning documentary, Left Lane: On the Road with Alix Olson. Olson has headlined HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, and her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Out, The Progressive, Girlfriends, The Advocate, OUT, Poets & Writers, Venus, and hundreds of other regional newspapers and magazines. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Food for Thought Books is a non-profit workers’ collective located at 106 North Pleasant Street in downtown Amherst. Everywoman’s Center (EWC) is a multicultural campus-based women’s center established in 1972. The Women of Color Leadership Network (WOCLN) provides a comfortable space for women of color to network and collaborate with others on campus and in the community.

This event is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.

For more information contact Food for Thought at 413.253.5432 and Everywoman’s Center at 43.545.0883.

Visit the Food for Thought site for this event.

Presented by Food for Thought Books, the Everywoman’s Center and the Women of Color Leadership Network