Rachel McKibbens is an ex-punk rock chola with five children. Known for her astonishingly visceral stage presence and devotion to craft, McKibbens has become one of the most respected poets in the spoken word community. She is the 2009 Women of the World poetry slam champion, is an eight-time National Poetry Slam team member, a three-time NPS finalist, and a 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellow and Pushcart nominee. For four years, she co-curated the award-winning louderARTS Project reading series in New York City, coaching their poetry slam team to three consecutive National Poetry Slam final stages. She teaches poetry and creative writing throughout the country, from housing projects and needle exchanges to high schools, hospitals and universities. McKibbens was a mentor for Urban Word NYC, teaching poetry at Bellevue Hospital through The Healing Arts Program, targeting at-risk youth. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Acentos Review, The November 3rd Club, Frigg Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine, Melusine, Wicked Alice, World Literature Today, Bowery Women: Poems, and So Luminous, the Wildflowers. She co-wrote the play-in-verse Eight Chamber Hunger Orchestra which premiered at the Bowery Poetry Club in Spring of 2007 to a capacity crowd. She has shared stages with Nikki Giovanni, Kanye West, Billy Collins, Martin Espada, Ellyn Maybe, Eve Ensler and Nick Flynn. She was featured in the slam documentary, Slam Planet: War of the Words which premiered at the 2006 SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas. She appeared twice on HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, has read at college campuses across the country, the Henry Miller Library, coffee houses, dive bars, homeless shelters and the Juilliard School of Fine Arts. She recently completed two full-length poetry manuscripts and is working on a collection of short stories. Her first book of poetry, Pink Elephant (Cypher Books) was released in December 2009. She lives in Rochester, NY.
