BreakBeat Poetry for Robert Frank: Mayda del Valle & Kevin Coval

Chicago writers Kevin Coval and Mayda del Valle present an evening of poetry in response to the exhibition Robert Frank: Photos.

Kevin Coval is the editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop and is the author of Schtick, L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems, Everyday People, and Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica, among others. He is the founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival and the Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors. His latest book, A People’s History of Chicago was released this spring on Haymarket Books.

Mayda Del Valle got her start at New York City's legendary Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion and went on to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual title. She went on to appear on 6 episodes of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on HBO, and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Mayda has recently moved to Chicago after several years faciliatating workshops around the LA area in high schools and probation camps as a teaching artist with the poetry-based non-profit youth organization Street Poets.  

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