SpokenHeard with Aja Monet and Host Susan Dobbe Chase

Known for an indomitable stage presence and voice that belies her appearance, at only 22 years old, Aja Monet is one of the most accomplished and respected poets within the community. She was a member of the first youth team from NYC to win the Brave New Voices Youth National Poetry slam. At the age of 19, Aja Monet became the youngest individual to ever win the legendary Nuyorican Poets Café grand slam champion title ranking 5th in the nation. Aja Monet was on the Hollywood Slam team at Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles, CA. She has performed at the NAACP Pre-Inauguration Event for Barack Obama. She has performed On-Broadway at the Town Hall theatre, the Apollo theatre, the Nuyorican Poets Café, Bowery Poetry Club, B.B. Kings, The Schomburg Center of Harlem, and various college campuses, public parks and theatres around the United States and in Bermuda.

For six years, Aja Monet has served as a youth mentor, poetry mentor, and poetry slam coach for Urban Word NYC, working with at-risk youth in inner-city New York
Aja Monet’s poems have appeared in the NY Times  and in television programs as far away as Germany and Australia. She recieved her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and is currently a graduate student working on her Master of Fine Arts in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  She is currently working on various projects, including a poetry manuscript, CD, and a novel. Stay tuned to the continual evolution of this “seedhead dandelion born in Brooklyn”.