2016 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals: The Judges

On Friday, March 11, 2016, ten Arizona high school students will compete for the title of Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Champion. While the spotlight will be on the students, a different kind of pressure will be on five individuals seated in the audience. We are pleased to announce the distinguished panel of judges who will perform the very difficult task of evaluating our finalist’s recitations. 

JOBaker
Jia Oak Baker is the author of the chapbooks Crash Landing in the Plaza of an Unknown City (Dancing Girl Press) and Well Enough to Travel (Five Oaks Press). Honors include 2013 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award; scholarships from New York State Summer Writers’ Institute and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; 2015 Artist Research and Development grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts; and fellowships from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation and Hedgebrook. Jia earned a Masters of Education from Arizona State University and a Master in Fine Arts in Writing and Literature from Bennington College. She has served in several editorships and has taught as a teaching artist with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the Arizona Creative Aging Institute. Jia lives in Peoria, Arizona, and teaches writing at Paradise Valley Community College.

 

Fatimah Halim is an artist born into a family of writers, storytellers and musicians. She has garnered success as a Special Events Coordinator,
professional performance artist, pop vocalist, ethnic dancer and inspirational author and speaker. She is the designer, facilitator and author of Rites of Passage Programs for Phoenix area youth. This commitment to youth has driven her passion for 20 years. Her dedication to promoting the development of women and girls is also evident in her Journey Home Program: An Arts Experience for Incarcerated Women; and in her latest book, You Grow Girl: A Rites of Passage Handbook for Growing Girls. In Zhenzhou, China, she was a guest of the Shanghai Women’s Federation, where she presented a workshop on her Rites of Passage Program at Sias International University.

 

Leah Marché is the co-founder of BlackPoet Ventures, a Valley-based performance arts company and a two-time Phoenix National Poetry Slam team member. She is on staff at Herberger Theater Center, and has presented/performed at events such as TEDx Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ignite Phoenix, Arizona Storytellers Project, GreenBiz Forum and Arts & Business Council of Phoenix. She is an alumna of SEED SPOT’s inaugural community program for social entrepreneurs, a finalist in Phoenix New Times’ 2013 Big Brain Awards, and has received numerous grants in support of her work. Her current projects include contributing writer for the New York-based BroadwayBlack.com, local book discussion group coordinator and host of a weekly internet radio show on RadioPhoenix.org called LIVE POETIC.

 

Pamela Sterling is an Associate Professor at ASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theatre. She teaches in the graduate program of the SoFDT’s Theatre for Youth program, as well as playwriting and theatre for social change. A published playwright, professional director and proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association, she has worked professionally in the field of new play development for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices, Bonderman/Indiana Repertory Theatre and University of Texas-Austin’s new play workshop. She is the founding director of (Dis)Orientation. Written and performed by undergraduate students at ASU, it presents the joys and challenges of university life for incoming freshmen, in a theatrical, entertaining and thought-provoking way.

 

Dr. Laura Tohe is Diné. She is Sleepy Rock clan born for the Bitter Water clan. She holds a Ph.D. in Indigenous American Literature. A librettist and an award-
winning poet, her books include No Parole Today, Making Friends with Water (chapbook), Sister Nations (edited), Tséyi, Deep in the Rock, and Code Talker Stories (oral history). Her commissioned libretto, Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio made its world premiere in 2008 and was performed by the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and is recorded on the Naxos classical music label. She is Professor with Distinction in Indigenous Literature at Arizona State University, and is the Navajo Nation Poet Laureate for 2015-2017.

 

The 2016 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals will be held on Friday, March 11, 2016, at 7:00pm at the downtown Phoenix studios of Arizona PBS (555 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004). Admission is free and open to the public.

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