“When you’re writing, you’re conjuring. It’s a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you’re inviting into the room.
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Jonathan Brown holds a BA in Communication from the College of Charleston, an MA in Writing and Consciousness from New College of California, and an MFA from the University of New Orleans. In 2013, he earned the John Woods Scholarship to study in Prague. His poems have been published in the Worcester Review, Wordplaysound, The Nashville Review, and Indiefeed: Performance Poetry. He won the 2010 and 2012 Tennessee Williams Literary Festival Poetry Slam in New Orleans. He’s a nine-time finalist at the LEAF Poetry Slam and the 2006 Bay Area Slam Champion. He has been a member of five National Poetry Slam Teams.
A few years ago, he switched his focus from spoken word to hip hop. He’s shared the stage with Milo, Sage Francis, Saul Williams, Sole, Sadistik, Weerd Science, Bluebird, and Blueprint. On the stage, Jonathan is a rhinoceros, trouncing around; on the page, he’s an alchemist, transmuting vulnerability into a source of peace. He’s a prism splitting light in all directions. Jonathan was a high school English teacher for eight years. Now he tours the country and rocks shows.
