Pages on Stages: CLI's Alumni Chapter

Save the date! December 17th at 6 pm featuring

Featuring:

Andrea Lee

Ebony Morgan

Simone Dill

James Coats

Ja'Net McDonald

Kimiko White

Tami Waters

Laurie Billman

Aurea Altamirano

Hosted by Hiram Sims

$6 pre-sale

$10 at the door

All sales go towards supporting the library

We also have limited "pay what you can" tickets.

All SLP Donors get free admission.

About the Poets:

Andrea Lee is a poet/chef and published author of The Power to Change the Way to Love Yourself and the upcoming Connections Between Us coming as well as Expressions of Love Feeling of  Courage Love & Betrayal out in Summer 2023. She is passionate about helping people understand the positive connection they can create with others. Andrea writes about love, loss, and betrayal. Her books and poetry have been published in  Silent Spark Press and Sims Library of Poetry. She is the co-creator of writingjourney101.com. Andrea co-hosts a weekly poetry show on Poetry Corner every Thursday at 8pm. Andrea grew  up in Los Angeles, CA and is the mother of four children - she is passionate about empowering and improving her community by creating literacy programs for teens and young adults. @Ms.Drea_Thepoet

Ebony Morgan is natural talent who was born with the gift of poetry coursing through her veins. The ability to express herself through rhythm and verse was discovered at a young age. In the first grade, Ebony performed a poem entitled, Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenfield and her journey as a creative was officially in motion. Her journey continued as she wrote a memoir to her father at the tender age of eight years old. The world cracked open for Ebony when her mother supported her creative mind by gifting her journals and encouraged her to fill them with her words, poems and thoughts. This is when the magic truly began for Ebony. As a child and young adult she spent much of her time perfecting

her craft and devouring the books on the shelves of the local library and bookstores. Ebony’s latest creative talent can be found in her poetry collection, The Rebirth: Flat Soda for Roses. In this collection, Ebony explores her experience as a black woman growing up in an urban community. Through her words, Ebony takes the reader on a journey of becoming. Her poetry and prose lead you from the root of pain to the lofty heights of gain to the extraordinary love and light found in urban existence. In this book, Ebony hopes that the reader also experiences a rebirth and that they move forward renewed and with an even brighter light to share with the world. She likes to think of her poetry as voice for the voiceless and prays that those who suffer in silence may find power, and peace in her poetry. Ebony is passionate about sharing not only her own creations with others, but also seeks to inspire others to find strength, love and meaning in their own writing. Because of this passion she has decided to embark on a new journey as Co-founder of Poetic Cadence. At Poetic

Cadence she will serve an instrumental role in educating, teaching and growing students as they learn about rhythm, poetry and prose. Ebony is also a member of a poetry group called Verses&Vibes, as well as a co-host on a weekly poetry show on YouTube, known as The Poetry Corner - Westside Connection.

Simone Dill is a South Central Los Angeles native. She started writing poetry her junior of high  school, and since then life has taken her on a journey that has giving her a testimony. A member  of the USC chapter season nine, Simone’s work seeks to marry the creative uniqueness of motion picture and poetry while teaching people how to emit power through their testimonies.  She holds two degrees in film.

James Coats is an author, poet, and educator from Southern California. With a passion for all things creative, he strives to capture authentic self-expression through his work whether photography, painting, or writing. He believes that poetry has the ability to bring diverse groups together, offering a way to connect through shared challenges, achievements, and experiences.  You can find him attending poetry readings throughout California or follow his poetry via his  Instagram @MrLovingWords. Additionally, you can take a poetry workshop with him through his organization Lift Our Voices Education which hosts an award-winning workshop monthly called Be The Change: Social Justice Writing Workshop.

Ja'Net McDonald is a poet, not by choice but providence. She has been expressing herself through poetry for as long as she can remember. During her sophomore year in high school, she wrote the Black History play for the annual Black History month showcase. More recently she was honored by receiving the Poem of the Week on the UK blog "Write Out Loud", for her poem  "Man" in March 2017. Ja'Net, pen name "Dyphrent," spent 2018 performing at numerous open  Mic nights in Fayetteville, NC, garnering her first feature in August of that same year at "Poetry  Under the Stars." 2022 will be marked by the release of Dyphrent's first full-length book of  poetry, "Embryo." She gives all the credit and glory for her talents to Yaweh Creator of all and is looking forward to wherever poetry takes her next.

Kimiko White is a Long Beach, California native poet who currently attends Tuskegee University as a  graduating senior pursuing a degree in English. Her choice of degree is deeply inspired by the life and works of the late Harlem Renaissance pioneer Langston Hughes. She is published in Writer’s Pocket Anthologies,  Silhouettes At Dusk as well as Fire and Ice. At 21, she became a signed author to World Stage press and has a  book set for release entitled Fever Memory. She is a graduate of the 2022 season 9, Austin chapter poetry publishing course through CLI. As of now, she is the season 10 Alumni chapter Teacher’s Assistant, helping program-graduate seasoned writers to edit their manuscripts to a publishable quality. You can find her work on  @pw.writing where she hosts weekly open mics via Instagram live every Wednesday.

Tami Waters is lifelong learner and adventurer. She continuously explores her life and the lives of others with creative expression through poetry and multimedia art forms. She is currently expressing the manifestation of her book of poetry release for June 19, 2023. Using all parts of her brain, she owns and operates an income tax and financial services business, Waters Tax  Service LLC. Helping people expand and express their lives through financial literacy, as well as  art and poetry are her passions.

Laurie Billman is a Mental Health Therapist living in Colorado. She has completed a poetry manuscript through Community Literature Initiative (Sailing past Shiprock) and is at work on a  second book (Maps of Africa) Her poetry has appeared in The Mcguffin, 13th Moon, Seedhouse,  and the Rambler. She has poems appearing in the anthologies Not What I Expected, and Sand and Sea.