Poets do Bermuda proud at Cali fest

FRIDAY, JULY 27: Eight young Bermudians have represented the island at the Brave New Voices Poetry and Spoken World Festival in California.

The festival serves more than 450 participants from all over the world including more than 50 teams and internationally recognized, actors, poets, and leaders in the field of youth empowerment.

Bermuda’s representatives were all members of the Chewstick Foundation’s ChewSlam poetry group and joined representatives from the US, New Zealand, and England.

The workshops, film screenings, open mics and poetry slam competitions all served to enhance the Bermuda team’s skills.

According to Deidra Bean of The Chewstick Foundation which organized the trip: “Each young person on ChewSlam brought something wonderfully unique to the mix, whether it is the experience of competing in Bermuda Youth Got Talent, as Marquedelle Rodriguez and Tenae Hassell have, by travelling to Europe as a delegate in an international conference or dropping mix tapes with cool, inventive and insightful lyrics.

“Yesha Townsend one of the coaches for the team shared that she was excited for the team to have the opportunity to experience new facets in the expression and power of poetry. She is committed to encouraging them to focus on making as big an impact as they can and to come back to Bermuda with a new found appreciation for this art form.”