poet Archives - Oakland Voices

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BlacArted: Space is the Place

August 10, 2023 Ayodele Nzinga

Editor’s Note: BlacArted is a front-row view into the maze-like mind of a multi-hyphenated artist pondering on art and the nature of reality as it intersects the creative and the imagined. On a balmy Friday

An African American woman wearing all white and a white hair wrap rolls dice towards camera. In the background is Oakland's cranes and shipyards.

Oakland Voices Alumna Ayodele Nzinga Featured in ‘The New Yorker’ Film “The Game God(S)”

February 3, 2022 Momo Chang

Our Oakland Voices alumna, and Oakland’s very own first Poet Laureate Ayodele Nzinga, is featured in a new film released this week at The New Yorker. The 17-minute film is called The Game God(S) and

An image pf a smiling African American woman in front of a mic.

Looking back on 2020: My Family’s Housing Journey and A Pandemic

January 5, 2021 Aqueila M. Lewis-Ross

Editor’s Note: We asked our alumni and correspondents to reflect on 2020, and/or what to look forward to in 2021. Below, poet/writer Aqueila M. Lewis reflects on what a year 2020 has been for her

An image of screenshots from Instagram regarding sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior from an Oakland poet and leader.

Oakland’s artist communities are “calling in” perpetrators

August 5, 2020 Brandy Collins

“The “He” represents a number of accused perpetrators who have been called into accountability within some Bay Area artist communities.”

An African American woman stands in front of the Las Vegas sign, with a child running in the background

Welcome to Las Vegas: My family searches for home in the midst of COVID-19

July 29, 2020 Aqueila M. Lewis-Ross

In the midst of a global pandemic, Aqueila Lewis and her family move to Vegas to seek more affordable housing.