Linda Joy Burke and Michelle Antoinette Nelson

The poets will perform and join with the audience in a discussion of the differences and commonalities between poems made for the page and poems performed on the stage.Performance poet, writer, percussionist, and amateur photographer, Linda Joy Burke is a 2002 Distinguished Black Marylander Award recipient for Art from Towson University’s Office of Diversity; a 2004 Poetry for the People Baltimore Legacy Award recipient; and a 2007 Columbia Festival of the Arts Poetry Slam winner. She is currently a consulting editor to Little Patuxent Review and a Maryland State Arts Council coordinator for the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Competition. Burke’s poetry has appeared in numerous publications including Little Patuxent Review, Obsidian II, Beltway, Passager, Thy Mother’s Glass, Gargoyle 54, and When Divas Laugh. In 2011, she released the first in a series of chapbooks – Moods, Minds and Multitudes - Somewhere Between There and Here, a collection of photographs and poetry.Michelle Antoinette Nelson, also known as LOVE the poet, is a prominent indie artist/author on the national performance and literary art scenes and in the field of creative writing education. She has appeared on CNN as a speaker at the Jena Six rally in Washington, D.C., authored the book Black Marks on White Paper, received the 2011 Baker b-grant award, released multiple spoken word CDs, and performed at the Smithsonian and college campuses nationwide. Michelle is also a guitarist, a Punany Poet (as seen on HBO), an active member of the Maryland Speakers Bureau, a host at Busboys and Poets, the creator of Live Lyrics! creative writing workshops, founder/host of BE FREE Fridays (a monthly open mic series), and an active member of Poetry for the People Baltimore.Linda Joy Burke photo credit: David Hobby. Recorded On: Wednesday, August 8, 2012