Lake Walking, Revolutionary Talking is an interactive and experimental performance including a live and virtual cast of spoken word artists from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and the U.S. Set in Oakland’s Lake Merritt, lost children of the African diaspora wander in an imaginary desert in hopes of discovering untainted water that will cleanse their spirit. This virtual journey through space and time celebrates the power of imagination and connection. Featuring Ayodele Nzinga, Karla Brundage, Duana Fullwiley, David Odiase, Sir Black, Rameses Setekh, Kevin Dublin, Wanda Sabir, Gemini, Amos White, Godfrey-Elvis Odianose, Zakiyyah G.E. Capehart, Prince Joey, Loice Mwita.
Meet the artists
Amos White is an awarded American haiku poet and author, producer and civil rights activist and environmentalist. Recognized for his vivid literary imagery and breathless poetic interpretations, he is published in several national and international anthologies. An impresario, Amos founded and produced Heart of the Muse creative’s salon, Beyond Words jazz+poetry show, was president of Bay Area Generations literary reading series, and co-founder of the Black Speculative Arts Movement California. He is the Founder, 100K Trees for Humanity, California Urban Forestry Advisory Committee (CalFire), and works for the Alameda County Agricultural Advisory Committee as the Urban Ag Chair. In 2023 he was a Jefferson Awards Recipient (KPIX5 CBS SF).
Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD is an author, director, producer, thespian, dramaturge, member of AlamedaCounty Women’s Hall of Fame, and the inaugural Poet Laureate of Oakland. Ayodele is Lead Curator of BAM House Black Cultural Center in Oakland; founding director of the Lower Bottom Playaz; founding director of the Black Arts Movement Business District, CommunityDevelopment Corporation of Oakland; producer of BAMBDFEST International; a YBCA Creative Corps Fellow; and a California Arts Council Legacy Fellow. Ayodele is the author of Performing Literacy, The Horse Eaters, SorrowLand Oracle, and Incandescent. Ayodele Nzinga hosts Winter in America: The SpeakEasy.
David Osaodion Odiase, a storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist, crafts conscious African narratives through poetry, performance, film, and experimental art forms. His poetry films garnered recognition at esteemed international film festivals like the African International Film Festival, Zebra Poetry Festival, with a finalist for the 2023 Emmys’ International Young Creative Award. He’s showcased his work at National Poetry Library, UK, and the Lagos International Poetry Festival. As the community manager of TrueMyVoice, he mentors over 500 Nigerian storytellers, empowering them to wield art for advocacy and social change.
Karla Brundage is the founder of West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange and a board member of Before Columbus Foundation. Her poem Alabama Dirt was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her forthcoming book BloodLine_RaceTraitor will be published by Finishing Line Press in 2024.
Kevin Dublin is an educator, economic justice advocate, and the author of Eulogy (Raven & Wren Press, 2023) and How to Fall in Love in San Diego (Finishing Line Press, 2017). He is the recipient of grants, fellowships, and awards from the SF Dream Keeper Initiative, San Francisco Arts Commission, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Center for Cultural Innovation, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. His work has recently appeared or forthcoming in Ploughshares, Konch, Apocrypha Magazine, The San Franciscan, Cincinnati Review, and several international poetry anthologies. He is the founder and director of The Living Room SF. Kevin believes in you and our collective power to change the world.
Yibor Kojo Yibor is an African currently living in Ghana. A verballist, spoken word workshop facilitator. Co founder of Ehalakasa, a spoken word and poetry community in Ghana, Co Director of Haduwa Arts & Culture Institute in Apam. He is involved in organizing spoken word and poetry slam events, workshops and youth development projects in schools and communities in collaboration with local, international and cultural institutions. He initiated the SheSheSlam an all women poetry slam to help raise and grow the interest of women in international slam and to allow them the space to voice up in the right direction. Website: www.ehalakasa.com /Facebook: www.facebook.com/ehalakasa/Email: ehalakasa@gmail.com.
Zakiyyah G.E. Capehart – poet/storyteller, performance artist, visual artist, radio producer/host. Her poetry is published in numerous anthologies nationally and internationally. Leveraging artistic skills as well as a medical and alternative medical background, Zakiyyah creates productions to help heal communities. Her radio shows are aired on KPFA 94.1FM. Zakiyyah is the author of Ghana On My Mind – Poetic Reflections on Journeying to the Motherland, which has been a number one best seller in African Poetry on Amazon.
Godfrey-Elvis Odianose, known as Ravhin, is a poetic luminary who aptly describes himself as the pregnant egg in a barren hen. For him, poetry is the illuminating force that unveils the brightness within his dark skin. Influenced by the works of esteemed writers like Rudy Francisco, Rupi Kaur, Billy Chapata, and ayodele nzinga, Ravhin’s poetic voice echoes powerful themes such as the harrowing issue of police brutality, which resonating strongly in Nigeria and the amplification of the #EndSARS movement in 2020. In addition to his impactful activism through poetry, Odianose is also the co-author of the compelling poetry and prose book, Jupiter and Saturn, available on Amazon.
Loice Mwita is a graduate of Kisii University in Kenya. She is also a filmmaker.
Rameses Setekh has found a multitude of ways to express our passion, through the love of words, and their power. Creative Engineer/Host of the podcast Free Thought Revolution. Diversity speaker that utilizes intimate, performative orations sown in truth to provoke & challenge conventional thought, and bring on intellectual conversation. Playwright deconstructing the conventional play with intellectual and personally emotional storylines. Lyricist in the band “prmtv sls” whose soulful hip-hop is a layered composition of soulful instrumentals & spiritual harmony; coupled with intelligent & artistically styled emotional storytelling. A dreamer, poet, author…blessed father, devoted husband; simple seed of lyfe.
Wordrite on stage, Joey Korgan is an entrepreneur, Freelance writer and wordsmith. Currently he spends his time guiding teenagers to draw the line between what the masses call success, and actual growth. He is an advocate for connectivity and believes that a body does not function properly without connections. He says of his work, “I believe in dynamism. Life isn’t static so. I believe in what they say about truth being like poetry, not many like to hear it. “
Yusuf Àlàbí Balógun, going by the stage name ‘Àrẹ̀mọ Gemini’ is an experimental performance poet and art specialist, with a core focus in Yorùbá arts and culture. Recipient of Horn of Afroclassical Merit Award for excellence in the propagation of arts and culture (2018), his art is guided by so many drives, one of which is to sell out O² Arena, London for Yorùbá oral arts.Recognised as the First Runner Up of the Grooming Talent Hunt 2020, his craft have received successful acceptance and validation from media houses within Nigeria and outside the shore, including BBC Yorùbá and The Folio Media (Nigerian exclusive affiliate to CNN). He is a self published author of a Yorùbá novel, Ṣẹ̀gílọlá Arómirẹ́ Ògìdán and he has so many works to his credits, including a collaboration with South African artiste – Willemien Rust (Beginnes & Eindes) and Nigerian musical artiste, Temmie Ovwasa (Space Fuji).