Poetry and Spoken Word Performance

Join poets Khalisa Rae and Eric Thompson as they perform their work and discuss their journey to becoming best-sellers and award-winning slam poets and putting Black Southern narratives on the map.

Prior to the performance, Rae and Thompson will lead a workshop for students: Poetry from Page to Stage: Learning to Make Your Writing/Poetry Leap off the Page for a Powerful Stage Performance from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in Hill Library's Fishbowl Forum. Preregistration for the workshop is required here.

Rae and Thompson are co-organizers of Griot and Grey Owl, a Black Southern writers conference November 10-12, 2023 in Durham, NC. Writers will gather to connect with renowned Southern workshop facilitators stationed at historical locations, panels with renowned Southern authors, and field trips tethered to the thriving Black Wall Street scene. The conference’s goal is that, after a weekend of writing in Durham, attendees will leave energized, empowered, and inspired to take the seeds learned at Griot and Grey Owl back to their own communities.

Khalisa Rae is a Durham-based, award-winning poet, author, activist, and culture journalist, and serves as Senior Writer at Jezebel. She is best known for her community activism and nonprofit management as the co-founder of Poet.she (Greensboro), the Invisibility Project, and Athenian Press- QPOC writer’s collective, resource center, and bookstore in Wilmington, NC. With fierce rebellion, her poignant words, commitment to community, and writing mentorship have impacted thousands. Rae’s acclaimed debut poetry collection, Ghost In A Black Girl’s Throat, was published by Red Hen Press in 2021.

Eric Thompson, known as LB (lyrically blessed), is a multi-talented writer and lyricist that hails from the city of Wilson, NC and an N.C.A&T alum where he was a part of the spoken word group Couture Word. Thompson has won the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam and the Bull City Slam and placed in a top ranking at the National Poetry Slam in Oakland. He is the coach and mentor of the UNCG collegiate poetry team and is currently working on his first CD and chapbook project entitled, “Voices in My Head.”