Backstage

Spoken Word: Everything to Know About the Art of Oral Poetry

From ancient Greek soapbox soliloquies to viral TikTok videos of poetry slams, spoken word has always charged language with kinetic immediacy. Encompassing a unique blend of honesty and an engaging ...
recordnet

‘Decks stacked against you’: How Stockton spoken word poet became an unlikely star

Stockton’s Brandon Leake honed his craft at open mic nights on the campus of a small Christian college in Redding, on slam poetry teams, in high school classrooms and wherever else he could. Raised by ...
Daily Press

Building a bigger table for spoken word poetry

April 16 was B.Y.O.P. night at Coming to the Table-Historic Triangle’s monthly gathering. Everyone was invited to Bring Your Own Poem to observe National Poetry Month, which was established to ...
Los Angeles Times

Newsletter: A Stockton spoken word poet on the national stage

This morning we’ll be taking a brief break from our regularly scheduled coronavirus and wildfire apocalypse programming to talk about a poet from the Central Valley, and his unlikely journey into ...
Columbus Dispatch

How a spoken-word poet became an unlikely reality-TV star on 'America's Got Talent'

LOS ANGELES — Have you heard about the poet from the Central Valley and his unlikely journey into millions of living rooms? Brandon Leake honed his craft at open-mic nights on the campus of a small ...
Los Angeles Times

A Stockton spoken word poet became an unlikely reality television star

This morning we’ll be taking a brief break from the usual coronavirus and wildfire apocalypse programming to talk about a poet from the Central Valley, and his unlikely journey into millions of living ...
NPR

A high school spoken-word club changed students' lives. Now, you can read their poems

When Peter Kahn became an English teacher at the Chicago-area Oak Park and River Forest High School, he was terrified of teaching poetry. "Poetry was my least favorite subject as a student, and my ...