Bronx Council on the Arts presents 'Outspoken: A Bronx Poets Feature,' an evening of poetic performances by Lyrical Faith, Alejandro Heredia and Crystal Valentine. These Bronx poets use their work to speak on topics from race to queerness to class, with a strong focus on activism and advocacy. Learn more about our performers below and RSVP!

Lyrical Faith

A Bronx native born and raised, Lyrical Faith is a Black American Educator, Activist and Spoken Word Poet who believes in a future for her world, much bigger than she can see. Her award-winning poetry has been a pillar of creative expression since picking up a pen to begin writing and performing at the age of 12. Forever walking by “Faith”, (the translation of her Swahili birth name, Imani), her words have graced stages beyond NYC to impact cities around the country and around the world, such as Paris, South Africa and Belize.

She is the co-founder of a monthly open mic & showcase for young adults in Harlem known as the Harlem Bomb Shelter, the founder of a nonprofit organization that promotes public service through the arts, known as Poetry for Service. She is the 2015 Poet of the Year at Syracuse University and the 2016 recipient of the Syracuse University Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Hero Award.

She has performed for the likes of Ilyasah Shabazz, Jasmine Mans, Mahogany L. Browne, Aja Monet, Sway Calloway, Tamika Mallory and many more. When not onstage, she is behind the scenes as an active leader in her community by holding positions in various public service organizations and empowering the youth as an educator by professional trade. She continues to tour, facilitate writer’s workshops, mentor young people and remain active in her sorority (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.).

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Sociology from Syracuse University (’16) and a Master of Arts in Higher Education & Student Affairs from New York University (’18). Through her poetry, Lyrical Faith strives to inspire, educate and advocate for intersectional and institutional issues by merging the arts and activism with a faith-based worldview.

Alejandro Heredia

Alejandro is a queer Afro Dominican writer and community organizer born in Santo Domingo and raised in The Bronx. He is a 2019 Dreamyard Rad(ical) Poetry Consortium Fellow and winner of the Golden Line Press 2019 fiction chapbook contest, selected by Myriam Gurba. His work has been featured in Auburn Avenue Magazine, La Galeria Magazine, and No Dear Magazine, amongst others. His chapbook You’re the Only Friend I Need, a collection of stories about immigration, queerness, and friendship, is forthcoming March 2021.

Crystal Valentine

Born and raised in the Bronx, Crystal Valentine is a nationally and internationally poet. Crystal has traveled across seas performing on platforms in Paris, Brazil, Botswana, South Africa and elsewhere. She was named Glamour Magazine's 2016 College Woman of the Year, Teen Vogue's Rising Young Black Thought Leader, and was the recipient of the National Conference of College Women Student Leaders Woman’s Distinction Award. A Callaloo Fellow and former New York City Youth Poet Laureate, Crystal’s work has been featured on programming for MSNBC, Blavity, Button Poetry, BET, CNN, The New York Daily News and more. She earned her B.A in Psychology at New York University, where she is returning as a MFA candidate in Poetry. She is a coordinator for the Bronx Council on the Arts and is the current Wednesday Night host at the Nuyorican Poets Café.

Crystal is a generator and fierce protector of black joy, and strongly believes that intersectionality is a key factor in liberation. As a queer, black, woman, a lot of her work revolves around bridging the ever present gap between her identities. Her goal is to provide a sanctuary within her poems that can be accessible to ALL black people: queer, trans, women, gender non conforming, disabled, poor, loud, angry, ghetto, for it is when all of these voices are present and accounted for that we can really begin the gruesome work of understanding and breaking down systematic oppression. Above all, Crystal loves her kin, she currently divides her time between curating writing workshops and performing at various venues.