Griot Speaks is a literary and voice performance project that lifts poetry and non-fiction from the page, creating powerful, scintillating audiobooks.
In a world inundated by the consequences of imbalance, truth-telling becomes vital.  The 1st act of healing/rebalancing is telling the truth. Griot Speaks invokes healing we all need now.

 

The first phase of Griot Speaks will focus on 7 works total:

4 of poetry & 3 of non-fiction sociology.

 

Griot Speaks: Phase 1 will consist of full production - from narration/performance to final release - of the audiobooks of my last 3 books of poetry and also my 4th soon-to-be-released book. Also included in the project are the next 2 books of Derrick Jensen's unofficial socio-environmental trilogy series (the 1st of which was performed and released on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes,  February 2, 2019). Further, this phase will include Amos Wilson's "Blueprint for Black Power," an 800-page volume addressing power in a way that we all  can use in the transformational times in which we find ourselves. These works will be lifted from the page so that many more people can hear their messages or perhaps hear them again in a new way. 

 

In the spirit of the Griots in many Afrikan societies, master storytellers who were the keepers of the stories and histories, Griot Speaks seeks to bring a new layer of life to these works that they live beyond the ink and seep into the heart/consciousness via the ears.  

 

Poetry for the heart center, non-fiction for the mind:  the revolution will not be televised ...and it may need to be spoken before it can be beheld.

 

Griot Speaks will produce performed narrations that speak the works from the page with rare fidelity to the text.

Griot Speaks audiobooks, infused with "meraki" - bits of the artist's soul/love, allow the texts to speak for themselves, using a human voice, invoking in the listener heightened connection to & understanding of the works.

 

Griot Speaks seeks a spiritual impact above all else. It is time for the human soul to fully embody. We've been sleeping and have allowed things  to get far out of balance. 
The Griots of Afrika were tasked, first, with telling the truth in beauty-invoking performance. 

Griot Speaks is a call to the truth we can all feel in these "interesting" times but hesitate to breathe aloud. 

The Griot makes it clear, makes it beautiful. The Griot makes it plain.