Writers@Grinnell Welcomes Performance Poet-in-Residence, jessica Care moore and Workshop Participants, Fri. Nov. 12, 2022; 7 p.m.; Rosenfield Center, Room 101

Friday, Nov. 11, 2022; Rosenfield Center, Room 101 - 7 p.m.

For the first time ever, Grinnell College will host a performance poet on campus (jessica Care moore taught a Zoom class for us during the pandemic) for a weeklong residency working with students who will conceive of, create, rehearse, revise, and finally perform original works of high-energy, deeply personal poetry for our community. The week will culminate in a Friday night poetry slam on campus.

jessica Care moore is the CEO of Moore Black Press, Executive Producer of Black WOMEN Rock!, and founder of the literacy-driven, Jess Care Moore Foundation. An internationally renowned poet, playwright, performance artist, and producer, she is the 2013 Alain Locke Award Recipient from the Detroit Institute of Arts. moore is the author of The Words Don’t Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto, God is Not an American, Sunlight Through Bullet Holes, and a memoir, Love is Not The Enemy. Her poetry has been heard on stages like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the London Institute of Contemporary Arts. She has performed on every continent. jessica Care moore believes poems belong everywhere and to everyone.

Born in Detroit, jessica Care moore first came to national prominence when she won on the legendary “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” competition a record-breaking five times in a row. Her searing performance of the poem “Black Statue of Liberty” earned moore several meetings with high-profile publishing companies, but in 1997, she paved her own path and launched a publishing company of her own, Moore Black Press. She released her first book, The Words Don’t Fit In My Mouth, and sold more than 20,000 copies. Along with her own work, she proudly published famed poets such Saul Williams, Shariff Simmons, Def Poetry Jam’s co-founder Danny Simmons, NBA player Etan Thomas, Ras Baraka, and former Essence Magazine editor Asha Bandele.