Rachel Shukert, Emanuel Xavier, Deborah Collage Grison Headline The Inspired Word - Oct. 7!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word reading series, featuring Rachel Shukert, Emanuel Xavier, Deborah Collage Grison + 12-slot open mic (open to not only poets and spoken word artists but fiction/nonfiction writers, comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

When: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Rachel Shukert is the author the the critically acclaimed memoirs "Everything Is Going To Be Great" and "Have You No Shame?" Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including Salon, McSweeney's, Slate, Gawker, the Daily Beast, Heeb, and Nerve, and been featured on National Public RAdio. She has also contributed to a variety of anthologies, including Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists and Best American Erotic Poetry: 1800 to the Present. Her plays include Bloody Mary (NYIT nominee), Johnny Applef*&ker, Everything's Coming Up Moses, The Sporting Life and The Nosemaker's Apprentice (both with Nick Jones) and The Three Gabor Sisters, and have been produced and developed by Ars Nova, Soho Think Tank, the Williamstown Theater Festival, and the Ontological/Hysteric, as well as extensively throughout the Netherlands. With Julie Klausner, Rachel co-created, co-wrote, and co-starred in Wasp Cove, New York's favorite live prime-time 1980's soap opera. She is currently developing her first feature with Yarn Films in Los Angeles. Rachel is also a contributing editor at Tablet Magazine, and an alumnus of the Ars Nova Play Group. She received a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, and now lives in New York City with her husband Ben and her bipolar cat, Anjelica Huston. For more info, visit http://www.rachelshukert.com/



Emanuel Xavier is author of the novel, Christ Like, and editor of several anthologies including the forthcoming, Me No Habla With Acento: Contemporary Latino Poetry. A spoken word/music compilation album, Legendary, and his new poetry collection, If Jesus Were Gay & other poems, were recently released. Recipient of the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award, a New York City Council Citation, and a World Pride Award, he has been featured on Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry and works for Random House. He also curates a monthly spoken word poetry series for El Museo del Barrio and was recently proclaimed a 2010 GLBT Icon by the Equality Forum for his activism and contributions to the gay community. www.emanuelxavier.com



Deborah Collage Grison is a native Chicagoan and has been writing and performing for over 20 years. She has shared the stage with some of the world’s greatest literarians and spoken word artists of our time such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Dr. Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Stacye Ann Chin, Regi Gibson, Saul Williams, KRS-One and The Last Poets. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College located in Bronxville, New York. Her work has been featured in various journals and anthologies. Collage’s first collection of work The Attic: words from the top (Writes of Passage Publishing Group) was published in 2001 received critical acclaim, as did her current publication A Love Supreme: a poemoir which was released in April 2010. This collection is a memoir told through poetry that tells the story of, with, to, through away from and back to the ultimate love of self, community, family, friendship and God. You can check her out at http://www.deborahcollagegrison.com/ or www.facebook.com/deborahcollagegrison.


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Inspired Word on Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
Inspired Word YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
Inspired Word Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event/Thursday, Sept. 2 - Molly Kat, Jamaal St.John, Tahani Salah, Justin Vinokur + open mic

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring Molly Kat, Jamaal St.John, Tahani Salah, Justin Vinokur + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Molly Kat has a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Binghamton University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She attended an international honors poetry program at Cambridge University in England and has had work published in Ragazine, ETC, Pedestal Magazine, The Fib Review, Omega Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, Howling Dog Press, and Muse Pie Press. Molly started the Binghamton University Slam team and recently became a slam master of the PSI certified venue she started in Binghamton. She competed in the Women of the World Poetry slam in Columbus, Ohio as a storm poet. She also started, publishes, produces, and edits a literary publication called “Linus” that has published poets from around the globe. Molly has shared the stage with Ainsely Burrows, John Survivor Blake, Caits Meissner, Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Shanelle Gabriel, Tantra Zawadi, Bonafide Rojas, Erik Words Maldonado, Tara Hardy, Tristan Silverman, and many other talented poets.



Jamaal St.John is a 34 year old poet who hails from New Rochelle NY. He is a 6 time Grand Slam Finalist for the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe. He is the 2008 Grand Slam Champion for The Nuyorican and is currently a member of The Nuyorican National Slam Team that just placed second in the nation during The National Poetry Slam held in St.Paul, MN. He is a 5 time winner of the Toronto International Poetry Slam and has performed all over the United States and Canada. He currently resides in West Orange, NJ with his wife of 8 years, Nile. He is also a member of a theatre ensemble known as The Male Ego who have performed extensively across the US. He has 3 CD's to his credit: Enterlightenment,Won't Catch Me Runnin', and Southpaw Stance.



Tahani Salah is a dynamic performer, poet and activist from Brooklyn. She’s a member of the 2007 Nuyorican National Slam Team and a graduate of Columbia University. She has a wide variety of work experience from the United Nations to non-profits like Urban Word NYC, Family International Support Team, and the AAFSC. She has been with Urban Word NYC for the last 8 years and is now the Youth Outreach Coordinator and has a place on the Urban Word Youth Board(word wide). Tahani is a 2006 Urban Word NYC Slam Team Member. She is also working on her collection of poetry available this winter titled *Respect the Mic*. Tahani has performed on a number of world famous stages from the Apollo Theater in NYC to universities in South Africa and Munich. Shehas appeared on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam. As a Muslim Palestinian-American woman, Tahani is committed to bringing light and solutions to problems faced by people from communities and experiences whose voices are silenced.



Justin Vinokur's poetry has been described as being repeatedly punched in the face. He has a degree in English and Creative Writing from Binghamton University, where he started Binghamton's only Artistic Development Group called "Breeding Grounds". Breeding Grounds is an environment aimed at fostering creativity between club members through the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and artistic works. Justin is a two time Binghamton Slam Team member, and was this year's Grand Slam Champion. He Co-hosts the Belmar open mic and poetry slam series with Molly Kat. Justin creates all the beats he uses for his tracks and is an expert on sound and intricate rhyme schemes. Some of his biggest influences are Pharaohe Monch, Tonedeff, John Coltrane, and Nat Turner.

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word/Thursday, Aug. 19 - Tongo, Simply Rob, Rothstein + open mic!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring Caroline Rothstein, Tongo, Roberto "Simply Rob" Vassilarakis + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010

Where: One and One Bar and Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Caroline Rothstein is a spoken word poet, nonfiction writer, and multimedia journalist. She is a member of the 2010 Nuyorican Poet's Cafe slam team, a member of the Intangible Collective, and a former member and director for the University of Pennsylvania's Excelano Project. Rothstein hosts a widely viewed YouTube blog about eating disorder recovery, and has been published as both a poet and journalist. She has a B.A. in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.



Originally from San Francisco, Tongo leads workshops for people committed to using their creativity against the machine that incarcerates two million Black and Latino people a year. He has been teaching youth inside detention centers across the country for nine years. His work in Rikers Island has been featured in New York Times and Fortune Magazine articles. He taught a class at Columbia University called Youth Voices on Lockdown that brought Columbia students into Rikers Island to facilitates workshops with incarcerated youth. For four years, he produced a monthly show at the Nuyorican called “Write from Wrong” that features survivors of the prison industrial complex.

Activist, Youth Mentor, Role Model, Story Teller, Poem Scriber and Weaver of Dreams. Roberto "Simply Rob" Vassilarakis is a born and raised NY'er of Greek and El Salvadoran descent. Disowned at the age of 17 for being gay, he was forced to leave his mama's boy life behind. Taking to the streets and learning how to fend for himself paved the road for his spoken word journey with concrete inspiration. His life experience led him to dedicate himself to working with the "at risk" inner city youth of NYC focusing on issues of sex/sexual identity and HIV/AIDS prevention and education. He has been blessed to work with many LGBT adolescents, their straight counter parts and those who might be questioning. He is a founding member of El Grito De Poetas, the only all Latino poetry collective in NYC.