Roger Bonair-Agard is a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and performance artist. He has made numerous television and radio appearances, has led countless workshops and lectures, and has performed his poetry at many US universities as well as at international festivals in

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, and

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. He has been accused of sexual abuse by multiple people, including other poets.

Biography

Born in Trinidad, Bonair-Agard moved to the United States in 1987, intending to begin university and eventually pursue law, but finding himself "instead exploring the seediest sides of New York City life"."Masquerade: Calypso and Home", 2011 All ForOne Theater Festival.
/ref> He studied

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

, and was about to take the

Law School Admission Test The Law School Admission Test (LSAT ) is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension and logical reasoning. The test is ...

when he decided to concentrate on poetry rather than a law career. He was a member of the 1997

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Nuyorican is a portmanteau word blending "New York" (or "Nueva York" in Spanish) and "Puerto Rican," referring to Puerto Rican migration to New York City, Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, their culture, or their descendants (es ...

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 ...

team and later coached the 1998

team, which went on to win the

National Poetry Slam The National Poetry Slam (NPS) was a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and, occasionally, Europe and Australia, participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurred in early August every y ...

Championship that year in Austin, TX.Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe (2008), "Chapter 19: And Two Become Three; Mouth Almighty Becomes NYC-Urbana and Nuyo's Championship Team Becomes louderARTS" in ''Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.''

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

: Soft Skull Press. . He then co-founded th
louderARTS Project
and has been on the 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 louderARTS Poetry Slam teams.Aptowicz, "New York City Slam Teams from 1990 to 2007" in ''Words in Your Face'', 2008. In 1999, he won the individual competition at the

. He was formerly the Artistic Director for louderARTS. He has also been adjunct professor in the Creative Writing Department at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

. Over the past decade he has worked with the youth at Urban Word in

, at Volume in

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

and with poetry youth organizations in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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, and the Adirondack Valley, NY. Bonair-Agard is also a Cave Canem fellow, and has studied under

Yusef Komunyakaa Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for '' ...

Cornelius Eady Cornelius Eady (born 1954) is an American writer focusing largely on matters of race and society. His poetry often centers on jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questions of race and class. His poetry is o ...

Marilyn Nelson Marilyn Nelson (born April 26, 1946) is an American poet, translator, biographer, and children's book author. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, and the former Poet Laureate of Connecticut. She is a winner of the Ruth ...

, Toi Derricotte, and Patricia Smith. He currently teaches creative writing with the Free Write Arts & Literacy Program at the

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

Temporary Juvenile Detention Center in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Sexual assault allegations

Bonair-Agard published a poem to his personal website in 2010, written in first-person, about a man assaulting a woman. In 2012, a poetry workshop in Ann Arbor, Volume, stopped working with Bonair-Agard after they were alerted to allegations of sexual misconduct against Bonair-Agard. At the 2013 National Poetry Slam a “safe spaces” council was created to identify sexual predators within the slam poetry community. During the competition, Rebecca Hunter, the Executive Director of Young Chicago Authors was alerted by the “safe spaces” council that her employee, Bonair-Agard, was on the list of alleged sexual predators. The same month, one of Bonair-Agard's Young Chicago Authors coworkers accused him of rape. After learning of this allegation, a former student of Bonair-Agard's - Melissa - spoke publicly of being allegedly assaulted by him when she was underage and he was almost twice as old as her. Melissa immediately provided Young Chicago Authors with extensive documentation of her allegation and Rebecca Hunter said Melissa and two others alleged victims of Bonair-Agard came forward to share their alleged experiences of sexual assault. These allegation brought about public concern that the organization was a danger to the youth it served. In February 2014, a group of over 20 young authors submitted a list of demands to YCA for safer spaces. In response, the Executive Director, Rebecca Black, and the Artistic Director, Kevin Coval, said that Bonair-Agard was no longer contracted with YCA and that they were going through internal processes. In 2017, a survivor's account of Bonair-Agard’s abuse was published in the

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Pub ...

book ''Killing Poetry: Blackness and the Making of Slam and Spoken Word Communities'' by Javon Johnson. On December 21, 2020, the organization Free Write Arts & Literacy released this statement, "In 2016, Free Write leadership promoted Roger to a position of leadership where he remained until early December 2020 when his employment was terminated. For six years, we chose not to stand in solidarity with survivors of harm and instead protected an abuser. We told ourselves that the internal work we were doing to design policy and structures to account for the harm was “transformative” when really it was insufficient and cowardly, with no public accountability offered to the community. This caused further harm caused to talented, trusted Free Write staff members and community partners, some of whom unwittingly found themselves in proximity to the employee while simply doing their jobs with Free Write, while others who strongly advocated for accountability were ignored or placated." The organization added to their statement on February 17, 2021. On February 24, 2021, another poet and former Young Chicago Authors coworker of Bonair-Agard's came forward to accuse him of rape in 2013. The next day, YCA executive director Rebecca Hunter and artistic director Kevin Coval apologized in a statement for their past inaction and acknowledgements that their response was not enough. Hunter resigned her post ahead of her scheduled departure in June 2021, and Coval’s employment was also ended. In March 2021,

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

suspended its partnership with Young Chicago Authors, due to the allegations against Bonair-Agard, as well as the outcries from the poetry community, including Van Cook’s statement alleging that leadership within the YCA organization knew Bonair-Agard was dangerous and did not act. This triggered journalism by

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

that logged two decades of survivors' accounts of abuse by predators affiliated with YCA.

Bibliography

*''Where Brooklyn At?'', 2016, Aquarius Press *''Bury My Clothes'', 2013,

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is an American non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago and emphasizing works on left-wing politics. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had ...

*''Gully'', 2010, Peepal Tree Press *''Tarnish and Masquerade'', 2006, Cypher Books *''Burning Down the House'', 2000, Soft Skull Press, co-authored with Stephen Colman, Guy Lecharles Gonzalez,

Alix Olson Alix L. Olson (born 1975) is an American poet who works exclusively in spoken word. She uses her work to address issues of capitalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. She identifies as a queer feminist. Early ...

, and Lynne Procope

Discography

*''List in a Valley of Bone: New and Selected Poem Recordings'' (2009) *''Chantuel'' *''NYC Slams'' *''5 Past 13''

Filmography

*The 2000 National Poetry Slam Finals – 2000
Poetry Slam Inc.
*Poetry slam – 1999, Princeton: Films for the Humanities & Sciences (with

David Deutsch David Elieser Deutsch ( ; ; born 18 May 1953) is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for ...

, Elizabeth Farnsworth, and Ariana Waynes).

References

External links

The louderARTS ProjectRoger's JournalAudio of "How Do We Spell Freedom?," "Southpaw," "Andrew Jackson's Statue, French Quarter New Orleans" and "Soul" (among others) on Indiefeed Performance Poetry Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonair-Agard, Roger Trinidad and Tobago poets Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States Hunter College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Poets from Illinois Violence against women in the United States African-American poets American male poets Living people Stonecoast MFA alumni 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers