Sarah Kay

Plenty of 14-year-old girls write poetry. But few hide under the bar of the famous Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan's East Village absorbing the talents of New York's most exciting poets. Sarah Kay also had the guts to take its stage and hold her own against performers at least a decade her senior. Her talent for weaving words into poignant, funny, and powerful performances haunts the heart. She was a featured poet on HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam" in 2006, and that year she was also the youngest poet to compete in the National Poetry Slam. Since then, Kay has shared her poetry on six of the seven continents. She is perhaps best known for her talk at the 2011 TED conference, which garnered two standing ovations and has been seen over three million times online. Kay holds a Masters Degree in The Art of Teaching from Brown University and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Grinnell College. Her first book, "B" was ranked #1 Poetry Book on Amazon. Her second book, "No Matter the Wreckage" is a collection of poetry from the first decade of her career, released March 18, 2014. Other poems and articles have been published in Pear Noir!, the Literary Bohemian, DecomP, Damselfly Press, Union Station Magazine, Foundling Review, the Huffington Post, CNN.com, among others. Kay is also a successful educator, who co-directs Project VOICE (Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression). Founded by Kay in 2004, Project VOICE encourages people to use spoken word poetry as a tool for personal and world understanding, and a medium for vital expression.