Idris Goodwin

Award-winning poet and playwright Idris Goodwin interrogates and remixes our cultural past in order to make sense of our present and potential futures.

Can I Kick It?

Nico Wilkinson

Inspired by inaugural poets of the past, Inauguration is a collection of poems crafted in response to the commencement of a new administration. Writing out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, one of the most divided cities in the country, Goodwin and Wilkinson trade ruminations of survival in a hostile political climate. Yet Inauguration transcends partisan rhetoric. It is a rallying call to reflect back as we collectively forge our way forward.

Inauguration

These Are The Breaks is the debut essay collection of NEA award-winning playwright, HBO Def Poet, and critically acclaimed "indie” rapper, Idris Goodwin. Diverse in scope and wickedly satirical, Goodwin's poetic essays sample race, class, and culture, transcending the page with hip-hop musicality. A rhythmic blend of biting wit and break-beat poetry, Goodwin's prose pulses with purpose. Remixing broken dreams and distorted legacies, Goodwin cross-fades past and present, personal and political: Motown's last vinyl factory juxtaposes against Bronx rap legends battling in open-air arenas; Chicago's Public School system contrasts against Santa Fe's tourism industry; an Egyptian child drowns in the Dead Sea as Nat Turner sprints across Death Valley. These Are The Breaks is the literary mixtape of our cacophonous times.

These Are the Breaks

American Prom

At the sound of the bell, young Cassius Clay Jr. takes his first step into the ring and starts becoming the man the world would know as Muhammad Ali. This swift, vibrant historical drama bobs and weaves through the iconic boxer's early life in Jim Crow-era Louisville. An unlikely hero is a classic story, but And in This Corner goes an extra, exhilarating round by exploring how remarkable communities help to create them.

Cassius Clay

And in This Corner

Kevin Coval

Graffiti crews are willing to risk anything for their art. Called vandals, criminals, even creative terrorists, graffiti artists set out to make their voices heard and alter the way people view the world. But when one crew finishes the biggest graffiti bomb of their careers, the consequences get serious and spark a public debate asking, "Where does art belong?" Kevin Coval is the author of Schtick, L-vis Lives, the American Library Association "Book of the Year" Finalist Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica, and an editor of The BreakBeat Poets. Idris Goodwin is a playwright, spoken-word performer, and essayist recognized across mediums by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.

Idris Goodwin

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