Taalam Acey, Sunni Patterson, 13 of Nazareth, Narubi Selah and Lamar Hill are five of the world’s best known, gifted and refreshing spoken word artists. Their combined credits include film, major media, HBO’s Def Poetry Jam plus decades spent mastering the craft of performance poetry. The mature, sexy audience and indelible ambiance will complete the list of ingredients for what is certain to be among the most historic spoken word events to ever take place.

“You have so, so much inspired me with your Spoken Word” said the legendary Stevie Wonder, while interviewing Taalam Acey on KJLH, Stevie’s Los Angeles radio station. A child of the Newark Rebellion, Acey was raised by a single mother who served as a member of the famed writer and activist Imamu Amiri Baraka’s community organization. His work has been featured on TV One, The Documentary Channel and selected as the original “number one thing you need to know about” on BET’s countdown show, “The 5ive.” Over the years, BET has featured and aired roughly a half dozen segments featuring Taalam.

The Newark, NJ native’s poetry has appeared in Essence Magazine for whom he shared his work with an audience of six thousand at The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Acey was a curator of the 2012 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival (the largest poetry gathering in North America) and was selected as the initial presenter for the inaugural Baltimore TEDx. Additionally, Taalam was a guest of U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters for the Congressional Black Caucus’ 2007 & 2008 “Young Gifted and Black” panels.

Taalam has shared his work around Europe, North America, the Caribbean and approximately one hundred schools of higher education. Additionally, films that include his work have garnered an Audience Award (2002) and a Special Jury Prize (2006) at the Sundance Film Festival. Acey was featured in an acclaimed BBC Radio 1 poetry documentary and Marc Smith, the founder of slam poetry, used Acey’s work in his definitive book.

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