Événements

Nairobi’s longest running performance poetry platform, Kwani? Open Mic will play host to Nigerian-American poet Bassey Ikpi on September 1st, 2015. Bassey, once a featured cast member of the National Touring Company of the Tony Award winning Broadway show, Russell Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam hosted by actor/rapper Mos Def, will headline the evening of performance poetry alongside Nairobi’s finest acts. Bassey also scheduled to hold a Spoken Word workshop and a special edition of Basseyworld Live: Nairobi (hosted at PAWA254 in partnership with WGLive) as well as visit a local school with Kwani Trust’s Soma Initiative

Bio

Bassey Ikpi is a Nigerian born and Washington D.C. bred poet/writer who was a featured cast member of the National Touring Company of the Tony Award winning Broadway show, Russell Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam hosted by actor/rapper Mos Def. Not a stranger to the stage, her poetry has also opened shows by Grammy Award winning artists such as India Arie, Luther Vandross, Alicia Keys, has earned her standing ovations at the NAACP Image Awards where her poetry was part of a tribute to Venus and Serena Williams. With social commentary being a focus of her work, Bassey has recorded original poems for the Kaiser Foundation’s, HIV/AIDS campaign,Knowing Is Beautiful and There is No Comfort In Silence for Global Grind in partnership withBristol-Myers Squibb and World AIDS Day.

In Lagos, she organized Do The Write Thing an event to show support through the spoken word for the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. She also recorded a song with popular Nigerian artist2Face Idibia in support of the movement called Break The Silence. Her passion for poetry, arts and social issues has also led her to work as a freelance writer for several media outlets on the topic of mental health and pop culture commentary including Ebony, The Huffington Post, Essence.com, XOJane.com and TheRoot.com and was the resident pop culture critic for Philly’s WURD FM radio station.