Archive for November 2006
The Featured Poet for our December 5th show will be the amazing Alvin Lau. His bio:
Alvin Lau is a performance poet, working artist, and Chicago native. Combining an academic background with the fierce delivery of an emcee, Alvin performs with a bold, imaginative style that has been described as “Billy Collins meets Kanye West.” The son of first-generation Chinese immigrants, he often speaks of the Asian-American experience, his subjects ranging from Tiger Woods’ arrogance, to the importance of native languages, to the desexualization of Asian men in the media.
An avid competitor, he is a two-time Chicago youth poetry slam champion, two-time national youth poetry slam champion, the first Grand Slam Champion of both the Mental Graffiti poetry slam and the legendary Green Mill Poetry Slam, Midwest regional poetry slam team and individual champion, and a three-time individual finalist at the National Poetry Slam and Individual World Poetry Slam. In 2006 he ranked 2nd in the nation individually and captained Team Chicago to 6th place, the team’s highest finish in a decade. At age 20, he became the youngest poet to make individual finals at a national competition, and he is the only poet to make individual finals at both NPS and iWPS in the same year.
Over his career, Alvin has been the opening speaker at the Asian-American Film Festival, a panelist for the Illinois Humanities Council, and a featured poet on Amnesty International’s Spoken Word Tour and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He has been blessed to share stages with emcee Mos Def, rock legend Buddy Guy, and actor Danny Glover, as well as notable poets Li-Young Lee, Staceyann Chin, and Nikki Giovanni. Alvin has also spoken, performed, and held workshops at numerous colleges and universities across the country, including Grinnell College, Northwestern University, and Sarah Lawrence College. His poetry can be found in numerous literary journals, recently appearing or forthcoming in Wandering Hermit Review, Inkstains, and Red River Review.
It’s that time of the month again, poetry time! When you are finished voting for the one you despise the least, come out and vent your frustration with our Democracy via the art of Spoken Word. Everyone’s doing it!
No feature tonight, which leaves more stage time for you! Come read, Slam, smile.
