Bobby LeFebre (born 1982) is an American poet, performer, and cultural worker. He is the current
poet laureate for the state of
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. He is the state's youngest and first poet laureate of color.
Biography
LeFebre is a native of
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
and attended North High School. He received his
B.S. in psychology from
Metropolitan State University
Metropolitan State University (Metro State) is a public university in the Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area. It is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. in 2004 and M.A. in arts and culture from the
University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...
.
Career
Bobby LeFebre is an Emmy-nominated, SAG-Eligible writer, performer, and cultural and social worker fusing a non-traditional multi-hyphenated professional identity to imagine new realities, empower communities, advance arts and culture, and serve as an agent of provocation, transformation, equity and social change. LeFebre is the co-founder of Sacred Voices, previously known as Cafe Cultura, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting youth literacy through poetry.
He was a founding team member of
Slam Nuba
Slam Nuba is a performance poetry event based in Denver, Colorado, USA. It originated in 2006 as a program of the Pan African Arts Society and certified by Poetry Slam, Inc.
Slam Nuba holds its poetry events at Cafe Nuba, and the major slam at T ...
. As an actor, LeFebre is represented by Radical Artists Agency, who manage Colorado's top talent for film, commercial, voice-over, industrials, and commercial print.
LeFebre wrote the play ''Northside,'' which addresses the gentrification of Denver. The play premiered at Su Teatro Cultural & Performing Arts Center in June 2019 and sold out 30 shows, with over ten-thousand people attending. LeFebre stated "Northside" served as "an unapologetic celebration of cultural preservation and permanence and a eulogy to things lost." He called it "an urban-colloquial story of power and privilege, unflinching love, and the innate human need to belong somewhere."
He is a board member of the Clyfford Still Museum and a member of the Latino Cultural Arts Center's advisory council.
He sits on the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs and is a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures fellow, and an Intercultural Leadership Institute fellow.
Honors, decorations, awards and distinctions
He is a two-time Grand Slam Champion, a National Poetry Slam Finalist, an Individual World Poetry Slam Finalist, and a two-time
TEDx
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
speaker.
In 2015, he was named one of Colorado's Top 100 Creatives by Westword magazine.
On July 23, 2019, he was named Colorado's eighth poet laureate by Governor
Jared Polis
Jared Schutz Polis ( ; ; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 to 2007, and five terms as the Unite ...
.
See also
*
Poet laureate
*
Poetry slam
A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word, spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.
Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry rec ...
References/Notes and references
External links
*
Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:LeFebre, Bobby
American male poets
1982 births
Metropolitan State University of Denver alumni
University of Denver alumni
American male dramatists and playwrights
Poets laureate of Colorado
Living people