Help The Oddfellowship get to NPS!
Asheville NC is the birthplace of the southern slam. A city that has both hosted and won the National Poetry Slam, and created The Southern Fried Poetry Slam--Asheville hasn't fielded a team at the National Poetry Slam since 2003. This year that changes. The Oddfellowship, an alliance of Asheville poets, friends and allies has come together to field one of the most dynamic and diverse group of voices headed to NPS this year. Housing and travel expenses are real. Food costs are real. Five adults don't eat or sleep cheap--oh and registration already has us in the hole. Help us pay off our debts and have a roof over our head in Decatur!!
MEET OUR TEAM!!
Steve Shell, 41, is a three time Poetry Slam Asheville Grand Slam Champion, second place finisher at the SoFried Indy Slam and The LEAF indy slam in 2014. Steve is also the one of the coaches of the top 5 in the world ranked HomeWord Youth Slam Team and teaches English at The School of Inquiry and Life Sciences in Asheville. Steve is also the host of The Moth Story SLAM in Asheville as well as a Moth StorySLAM champion and will appear in the first ever Moth Grand Slam in Asheville later this year.
Breeze "ILIFETHIS" The Poet, 32, has been performing professionally for 6 years. He is known for his powerful, almost preacher like performance and his ability to be completely transparent. Breeze appeared on Lexus Verses and Flow season 4 as a featured poet and was a 4x King of the South Slam Champion in South Carolina.
Breeze auditioned, was accepted, and competed at the historic Showtime at the Apollo Theatre as well as being the Skinny Bully Grand Slam Champion (Charlotte) and Writers Den Grand Slam Champion (Richmond).
Francine Hendrickson, 23. is a writer, teaching artist, and goat enthusiast. They belong to the East End of Long Island and to Asheville, North Carolina. Francine received a BA in Creative Writing and BA in Arts Management from Purchase College. They have performed at venues such as The Apollo Theater and Barclays Center. In 2016 they finished 29th out of 96 poets at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Brooklyn. Their plays have been featured in Gotham's Young Writer's summer series, and they are a recent recipient of the Gilman Scholarship. Their poetry has been published in Nimrod, Pankhearst, ATOMIC, and various other journals. They are currently pursuing a MA in Writing from Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Devric Butoh, 24, is a performance-poet who is smart/sad and Japanese.
Ramya Ramana, 21, is a youth activist, poet, writer, and most of all, believer of God. She was the previous Youth Poet Laureate of New York City. Recently, she won the New York Knicks Poetry Slam that awarded her with a full scholarship to St. John's University, where she is studying English. As the Youth Poet Laureate, Ramya has performed at several venues including Apollo Theatre, City Hall, Hammerstein Ballroom and many more notable venues including the inauguration of New York City’s Mayor, Bill De Blasio. She has shared stages with notable people including Harry Belafonte, President Bill Clinton, Mayor Bill De Blasio, Rosario Dawson, Eve Ensler and many more. Through her journey and collective experiences, Ramya hopes to grow into a better person with light, love and a clear vision of unity for humanity.