Writing Is as Important to Me as Breathing with Author, Poet, and Civil Rights Activist Kevin Powell

A Magician, a 2nd basemen (for the New York Yankees of course), a Meteorologist… all career options that author Kevin Powell considered, but what finally stuck was the act and art of writing. The library is where he fell in love… with books, art, music, cultural diversity, and anything he could get his hands on. Kevin believes that the stories we tell are the history of this country, and his passion for writing and passing along those stories is a form of activism that will keep voices from being silenced and forgotten. Kevin shares with Jeanne how his hunger for learning will never be satiated, how the illustrative life of Ernest Hemingway gave him his lightbulb career moment, how absorbing the work of writers such as Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Audrey Lorde, and Maya Angelou (to name a few) changed his perspective on defining manhood, the joy and nostalgia he still finds in gospel music, how speaking publicly can be liberating, and why it’s important for you to discover your own definition of success rather than chase someone else’s.

About Kevin:

As a poet, journalist, essayist/blogger, public speaker, civil and human rights activist, filmmaker, and the author of 16 book, Kevin Powell is one of the most acclaimed political, cultural, and literary voices in America. Kevin is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. As an activist, he is the president and co-founder of BK Nation, a new national, progressive, multicultural organization focused on such issues as education, civic engagement, leadership training, health and wellness, social media, arts and culture, and job and small business creation. Kevin was also a Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn, New York, his adopted hometown, in 2008 and 2010. He was a senior writer of VIBE magazine from 1992-1996. As a pop culture curator, Kevin produced the first exhibit on the history of hip-hop in America at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, which toured America and overseas. As a humanitarian, Kevin's work includes local, national and international initiatives to end violence against women and girls (including a very well-regarded appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show highlighting domestic violence); and he has done extensive philanthropic and relief work, ranging from Hurricane Katrina to earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, to Superstorm Sandy in New York, to his annual holiday party and clothing drive for the homeless every December since 9/11. His newest books Grocery Shopping with My Mother and The Kevin Powell Reader: Essential Writings and Conversations are both available now.

IG: @kevinpowellbrooklyn
Twitter: @kevin_powell

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