4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
NLE’s Youth Action Council welcomed renowned poet and activist Aja Monet as the first in our ongoing series of visiting artists as part of NLE NYCapsule – a, free virtual space for youth to share and create together in response to COVID-19. Monet led the youth in poetry writing exercises for an anthology they are creating during this time. We thank Monet, for being so inspiring, generous, warm and helping us to remember who we are during this pandemic.
Aja Monet is an American contemporary poet, writer, lyricist and activist of Cuban-Jamaican descent from Brooklyn, New York. Co-founder of Smoke Signals Studio, Aja Monet currently lives in Little Haiti, Miami and dedicates her time merging arts & culture in community organizing with the Dream Defenders and Community Justice Project. She is known to be the youngest poet to have ever become the Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Champion at the age of 19 in 2007.
Monet is also known for her activist work, and has been an active participant of the Say Her Name campaign, which has highlighted police brutality against black women. She spearheads an arts & activism initiative, “Voices: Poetry for the People” that provides free poetry workshops for grassroots leaders & organizers in South Florida.