Words in Your Face traces the rich history of slam poetry through the lens of the New York City scene that pioneered it. Author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz situates New York slam poetry in the history of oral tradition in poetry throughout history and around the world, with particular attention to the three major 20th century arts movements that helped set the stage for it: the Harlem Renaissance, the Beats, and hip hop. Aptowicz explores the birth of slam at the Nuyorican Poets’ Café and the genre’s explosive growth as the media responded with events like Lollapalooza and MTV’s Unplugged. The book expands the canvas by examining the connections between academia and slammers, especially the poets of color, the youth slammers, and the burgeoning hip hop poetry scene. Interviews with key players like Chicago’s Marc Smith and San Francisco’s Gary Mex Glazner help tell this fascinating story from the inside.
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is the author of five books of poetry -- DEAR FUTURE BOYFRIEND (2000), HOT TEEN SLUT (2001), WORKING CLASS REPRESENT (2004), OH TERRIBLE YOUTH (2007) and EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING (2010) -- all currently available on Write Bloody Publishing.
She is also author of the nonfiction book, WORDS IN YOUR FACE: TWENTY YEARS OF THE NEW YORK CITY POETRY SLAM, which Billy Collins wrote "leaves no doubt that the slam poetry scene has achieved legitimacy and taken its rightful place on the map of contemporary literature."
Her recent awards include the ArtsEdge Writer-In-Residency at the University of Pennsylvania (2010-2011), a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry (2011) and the Amy Clampitt Residency (2013). Her writing has appeared in PANK, Rattle, Conduit, La Petite Zine, decomP, kill author, Thrush and Muzzle, among others.
Her sixth book of poetry, THE YEAR OF NO MISTAKES, will be released by Write Bloody Publishing in Fall 2013 and her second nonfiction book, CURIOSITY: THOMAS DENT MUTTER AND THE DAWN OF MODERN MEDICINE will be released by Penguin's Gotham Books in Fall 2014. For more information, please visit her website at www.aptowicz.com.
