On Monday, March 25 we gather at McGeary’s for another edition of Poets Speak Loud hosted by Mary Panza. This month, as we get closer and closer to the 2013 Albany Word Fest, our featured poet is Benedicto Figueroa from Jersey City, NJ.
We first met Ben at the Hudson Regional Poetry Slam in Suffern in July where Team Nitty Gritty competed (and won) against teams from New York and New Jersey. We then had the opportunity to run into him again at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte.
Ben “Broken English” Figueroa is a self-taught writer, poet, and stage performer. In 2012 he was named Poet Laureate of Union City, New Jersey. He has headlined shows at the Howl Festival, The Bowery Poetry Club, The Carlos Williams Carlos Foundation, and several New York and New Jersey colleges and universities.
He has represented the state of New Jersey as a member of the 2010 Loser Slam Team, the 2011 and 2012 Jersey City Slam North East Regional Slam Teams. Figueroa is currently the host and slammaster of Jersey City Poetry Slam which he founded in 2009.
If, for some reason you miss this month’s Poets Speak Loud, Ben will be back in town next month with the Jersey City Slam Team taking part in the first ever Word Fest Invitational Slam at Valentine’s on April 20 closing out the 2013 Albany Word Fest.
Poets Speak Loud is a monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word with a featured poet hosted by local poet Mary Panza at McGeary’s (4 Clinton Square, Albany) in downtown Albany on the last Monday of each and every month for the past eight years. Sign-up for the open mic is 7:00pm, we start around 8pm.
