Noted sound artists Mendi + Keith Obadike have awarded the inaugural Ogene Sound Art Prize to Elsa Mbala. The Prize, an unrestricted monetary award of $2000, is given to recognize excellence in the practice of sound artists of the African Diaspora. Mendi + Keith Obadike solicit nominations from sound artists, scholars, visual artists, and musicians to nominate artists who advance the field of sound art through:
Hear a clip from On Juking With Another Black Boy.
Mixon-Webster dedicated one poem to fellow queer poet Danez Smith. The piece was written after the two danced together at a party. Mixon-Webster credits Smith for bringing him into a fuller sense of who he is on the page.
“I think one of the first poems I ever heard from Danez was, ‘Twerking as a Radical Form of Freedom.’ And the sheer authenticity, and the unabashed delivery and approach to Danez’s work really inspired me to put myself out there as authentically as possible.”
Finding his voice off the page