Patrice Lumumba: An Anthology of Writers on Black Liberation

An African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Author of 6 books (Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black, all from POOR Press, Elohi Unitsi from Conviction 2 Change Publishing and Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate from Vagabond Books)  and 40 anthology appearances (including 2020: The Year That Changed America, Geography Is Irrelevant from York, England's Stairwell Books, Five Words: Volume XIV from West Cork, Ireland's O'Bheal, I Can't Breathe from Kenya-based Kistrech Theatre International and Law And Poetry from the American Bar Association) under his figurative belt so far. Plans is his 7th book.

Tureeda Ture Ade Mikell, Story Medicine Woman, author, activist for holism, called ‘word magician,’ is an award-winning poet, published nationally and internationally. Qigong Healer, workshop leader, storyteller, lyricist, performance artist, founder of The Tree of Life Foundation H.L.P. , advocate for youth and adults. Published over 70 student anthologies with CA Poets in the Schools since 1989.  Performed in schools, libraries and universities, Google, Genentech, Aspire, Lawrence Hall, and Golden Gate Academy of Sciences, Randall, Oakland, and De Young Museums. Was featured spoken word artist at SOAN [Soul of a Nation] Exhibit, and the American Academy of Poets, Fire Thieves, at the De Young, and Museum of the African Diaspora, (MoAD) Lit-Quake Afrofuturism. Featured storyteller for the 55 Year Anniversary of the Black Panther Party, National Association of Black Storytellers, featured poet storyteller celebrating Octavia Butler’s 70^th birthday, and Eth-Noh-Tec Nu Wa Delegate storyteller in Beijing, China in collaboration with the University of Beijing.  Recent publications of her work can be found in, Black Fire This Time (Willow Press, 2022), Revolutionary Poets Brigade, Second Stutter (City Lights, 2022) Common Ground (Pease Press, 2022) and many more. Her full length collection, Synchronicity, The Oracle of Sun Medicine, was released in 2020, and nominated for the California Book Award. She is also co-curator of the Patrice Lumumba Anthology, released in 2021 by Nomadic Press, both now at Black Lawrence Press. 2023 has presented Tureeda to, Filoli, Stories in Bloom, Atherton, Stanford University, Poets by the Bay, Berkeley Museum of Modern Art, Berkeley, San Jose Poetry Center, Beautiful Black Books (BBB) interviewed by Tshaka Campbell, Santa Clara Poet Laureate, San Jose Museum of Art Invitational, curated by Poet Laureate Tshaka Campbell, Yerba Buena Gardens for the Arts, San Francisco Intersection for the Arts, S.F. Belmont Poetry Center, Belmont, and more…

Brandon Logans is a poet from Oakland, California with an M.F.A in Poetry from Mills College. His work has been published in the Patrice Lumumba Anthology, Foglifter, Variety Pack's Special Issue Black Voices of Pride, and Action, Spectacle. He might describe himself as a rectangular sheet of honey 30” x 62”, 6” above any surface.

Oakland native James Cagney is a poet and Cave Canem Fellow. He has appeared as a featured artist at Museum of The African Diaspora (MOAD SF), The DeYoung Museum and the Oakland Museum, as well as the Winter Warmer Poetry Festival in Cork, Ireland,  Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea: Midnight In Mumbai (2012), Celebration of the Word with Maya Angelou (2001), Four Brothers Featuring Will Power, and Ritual Theater 2000. He read for established series Moondrop Productions, Lyrics and Dirges, and in Sacramento, Ca, the Mahogany Urban Poetry Series and for both Litquake and Beast-Crawl.

His work has been published in Alta Magazine, Poetry Daily, Tandem, Eleven Eleven, The Maynard, Civil Liberties United, Anvil Tongue Books, The Racket Journal, As Of Late IV, anthologies Best American Poetry 2022, Lines OnLine Collection 2022, Black Powerful (edited by Natasha Marin), Colossus: Home, All The King's Horses, Silver Pinion, Caduceus, Barbershop Chronicles, Beat Not Beat (edited by Kim Shuck), Susurrus, Peregrine Journal, The Scribbler, InterlitQ Magazine, Ambush Review, Sparring With The Beatnik Ghosts, and on-line at Lime Hawk, Print Oriented Bastards, Typehouse Magazine, Fresh Hot Bread, mediacakemagazine.com and oaklandlocal.com.

James has facilitated poetry workshops at the San Francisco Public Library, Taking Notes series for SFJazz.org and Alameda Island Poets. He has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle,  and on KALW.org and KXSF.FM.

He wrote and performed an original monologue, The Two Chairs as part of the Afro-Solo Arts Festival, and unrehearsed stories for The Shout Storytelling Series.

As a poet, he has performed at countless venues including Cal State Hayward, Barry University in Miami, Reader's Bookstore at Fort Mason Center and Art House in Berkeley, The Starry Plough, La Pena Cultural Center, Above Paradise Lounge, The Stork Club, Spasso's Cafe, The Jahva House, Florey's Books in Pacifica, Department of Make Believe, Grace Cathedral and the OK Hotel.

His first book, Black Steel Magnolias In The Hour Of Chaos Theory, won the PEN Oakland 2019 Josephine Miles award. His second book, Martian: The Saint of Loneliness, (Nomadic Press) won the winner of the 2021 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was nominated for the 43rd Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Visit JamesCagneyPoet.com

Jeneé Darden is an award-winning journalist, author, public speaker and mental health advocate from Oakland, Calif.  She has reported for NPR, Marketplace, TIME Magazine Europe, The Los Angeles Times, Ebony, Refinery29, Shondaland and other outlets. She is the author of When a Purple Rose Blooms (Black Lawrence Press), a collection of essays and poetry about her personal journey through Black womanhood, Jeneé curates the reading Let Her Tell It! about Black women and mental health. Her work is also published in We've Been Too Patient: Voices from Radical Mental Health, Previously on X-Men: The Making of an Animated Series and Patrice Lumumba: An Anthology of Writers on Black Liberation. Jeneé holds a BA in ethnic studies from UC San Diego and a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California. She's a former National Book Foundation Summer Writing fellow. When the mic is off and her pen is down., Jeneé loves to go to the beach, dance, read, travel, watch superhero films and Star Trek shows. Follow her blog www.CocoaFly.com and her website www.jeneedarden.com.