New Voices: Askia Humphrey & Javier Zamora May 19, 2011

Bay Area Poets Askia Humphrey and Javier Zamora and others will read as part of Marin Poetry Center’s popular Third Thursday speaker series. The event will be emceed by Marin County Poet Laureate CB Follett, a fierce champion of poetry for poets and audiences of all ages in Marin County, and will be followed, for the first time in the history of this series, by an OPEN MIKE limited to poets under the age of thirty.

Askia Humphrey was born in California in 1984 and grew up in various places throughout the western United States, living mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began writing short-stories in his early teen years and started writing poetry in his early 20's to improve the sound of his prose. He soon began to appreciate poetry as its own art form and has been writing both poetry and prose ever since. Askia cites his major stylistic influences as William Carlos Williams, Billy Collins, Pablo Neruda, and W.B Yeats. Askia is also an accomplished dancer, having choreographed, performed, and competed internationally. Currently, he is studying at The College of Marin, working towards a degree in English.

Javier Jose Zamora lived in El Salvador with his grandparents until he was nine years old when he migrated across the North American continent to rejoin his parents in this country. Currently an Honors Student majoring in Latin American History at UC Berkeley, Javier began writing poetry during his senior year of high school. Last summer, Javier was awarded fellowships to attend the Bread Loaf, Napa Valley and Squaw Valley Writer's Conferences. His chapbook, NINE IMMIGRANT YEARS, won the 2010 Inaugural Organic Weapon Arts Chapbook Contest and will be released this year, and a full length book, MI TIERRA, was a finalist for the 2009 Violet Reed Hass Book Award.

Official Website: http://www.marinpoetrycenter.org