Next COUNTERpult Showcase

 
 

BRIAN Broome

Roots. Wounds. Words. North Star BRIAN BROOME’s (he/him) debut memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, won the prestigious Kirkus Prize and was a NY Times Editor’s Pick. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Poets and Writers, Medium, and more. Brian was a K. Leroy Irvis Fellow and an instructor in the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been a finalist in The Moth storytelling competition and won the grand prize in Carnegie Mellon University's Martin Luther King Writing Awards. He also won a VANN Award from the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation for journalism in 2019. His film, Garbage, won the Audience Choice Award at the Cortada Short Film Festival and was a semi-finalist in the Portland Short Fest. He is a 2022 Writer in Residence at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California.

 
 

JAH watson

Roots. Wounds. Words. Programs Manager and Storyteller jah watson (she/they) is a queer, nonbinary post-apocalyptic poet + narrativist hailing from Cleveland, OH, and preparing for the rapture. Their writing is a practice in mediumship as the pen builds a bridge between the past and present selves, and selves not yet experienced. She has participated in writing courses and fellowships with University of California-Riverside, Poetry Partnership of Pittsburgh, Wusgood.black, and Winter Tangerine. In her spare time, she likes to garden, cook, hike, and vibe with good company. Find her on Twitter @astrojah.

 
 

J EZRA McCoy

Roots. Wounds. Words. Storyteller J Ezra McCoy (he/they) is an Atlanta-based cultural critic who a friend recently described as salted caramel, which is to say that his personality is deliciously complex. Sometimes smiling but always sardonic, he investigates the complex nature of social relations in art, music, literature, history, and politics. His work is featured or forthcoming in Rotary, Moguldom, Bold Culture, and Medium.com. He enjoys searching local bookstores for first editions of obscure texts. He loves listening to jazz, blues, and rap.

 
 

TONYA Abari

Roots. Wounds. Words. Storyteller Tonya Abari (she/her) is a multigenre storyteller, author, editor, and book reviewer for children and adults. Her words and reviews can be found in Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Good Housekeeping, ZORA, AARP’s Sisters Letter, and many more! She is a 2020 Hurston Wright Foundation Writers Week alum in creative nonfiction as well as a Roots.Wounds.Words Penning My Pieces participant who is currently working on children’s books and hybrid adult projects. Follow her at @TAabaris_World.

 
 

NIC López-Rodriguez

Roots. Wounds. Words. Storyteller, Board Member, & COUNTERpult Host Nic López-Rodriguez (he/they) is a nonbinary, Florida raised, Philly based Boricua. They are poet, DJ, educator, and brujx practicing the lucumí religion. Over the last decade they have served the community as a social justice organizer and researcher. A former Leeway Foundation Arts & Change grant recipient, their writing has been featured in The Gordian Review, Philadelphia Inquirer and N.A.S.W. Journal. Nic holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University and is currently working as a writing arts professor at Jefferson University. As a true Scorpio sun/ Aries moon, Nic has a million passion projects, but their main love is rooted in deep, watery poems. They are a co editor of a forthcoming anthology Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain & Radical Visions for Healing & Justice, set to make publication in 2022.