Union Square Slam is spending the summer showcasing our fire 2017 Slam Team, as they prepare for the National Poetry Slam in Denver this August. Each team member will lead a workshop before their feature, so don’t miss your chance to engage with these brilliant writers and performers! All proceeds go directly to the artists.

First up: Trace DePass!!!

Residing in Queens, NY, Trace DePass is an Urban Word NYC alumnus, juror and consultant at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and was the 2016 Teen Poet Laureate for the Borough of Queens.

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, mother of Phife Dawg from A Tribe called Quest, awarded him the first-ever Phife Dawg ‘Styles-on-Styles’ award for poetry. After which, he then went on to perform for the unveiling of Phife Dawg’s street in Queens, NY, and for the grand opening for The Langston Hughes’ home in Harlem. He received a National Gold Medal from Scholastic for his writing portfolio, “Black Boyhood,” wherein one piece was published in Scholastic’s Best Teen Writing of 2015. His poetry has been featured online for BET’s Next Level, Motion Poems, Nowness, & Billboard, and can be read at literary homes – Entropy Magazine, Poetry Magazine, Split This Rock, & Penmanship Books’ “East Coast Voices”.

Trace is also currently the editor of Best Teen Writing of 2017, and a member of the 2017 Union Square Slam Team, and working on curriculum for his upcoming residency at The Langston Hughes Home.
 
SHOW DETAILS:

6:30pm: Workshop
7:30pm: Sign-ups and Socialize
8:00pm: Open Mic
9:00pm: Feature
 
We are located at the Bureau of General Services — Queer Division, inside the LBGT Center (208 W 13th St, #210)
 
Our venue is all ages and wheelchair accessible.

Workshop: $5
Open Mic and Feature: $5

No one is turned away for lack of funds.