Grace Taylor is a spoken word poet, teacher and youth development worker. She is a co-founder of the South Auckland Poets Collective and The Rising Voices Youth Poetry Movement. She works tirelessly, creatively, insistently to promote poetry in South Auckland.
Marc Smith founded the Poetry Slam movement in The States in 1986 and it has spread like wild fire throughout the world. The movement has created ‘families’ of poets that are drawn together by slam events, new bohemia or hip hop. Spoken-word poetry has taken poems into different corners. It has ignited a love of words with generations of youth. It has energised the way poetry can be delivered, liberated the word from the page and given poets freedom to speak with renewed political bite.
Grace is one of a number of New Zealand poets who are not only producing vital examples of spoken-word poems (along with poets such as Tusiata Avia, Doug Poole, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Serie Barford) but are igniting a love of words in communities such as South Auckland. This is cause for celebration and admiration.
Grace and the team have a fund-raising event coming up for the Rising Voices Youth Poetry Movement.
It is on Saturday September 7th at 15 Bassett Road, Remuera at 2pm. Light supper and refreshments. Tickets $45
Tonight, there is this event at 7pm at the foyer of the Mangere Arts Centre. This year, Stand Up Poetry has been at MIT Creative Arts School, Te Matariki Clendon Community Library, the Cafe at Youthline Manukau. Packed houses for the open mic. Special guest tonight: Jahra Rager.
Listen to Being Afakasi
NZ Poetry Shelf 