Episode #146: Don't Call Me a Poet! with Stephen Colman
Alvina welcome special guest (and husband) Stephen Colman to talk about how he became a poet (but don't call him a poet!). On this episode, while Grace took some time off to catch up on work, Stephen joins as co-host of the podcast! You will learn about his early days growing up in New Jersey, how he went from being a rap artist to poetry slamming, and why he really doesn’t care to be called a poet.
How have you been?
Stephen and Alvina catch up on each other’s lives. It’s been a bittersweet stretch as they’ve had fun celebrating Stephen’s birthday but on the same day Russian invaded Ukraine. There is a stressful feeling in the world and it’s hard to remain focused on work and to feel optimistic about things. It was wonderful to have people over for a birthday celebration. At least that made things feel kind of normal again. They took a few days off and watched some really bad TV. Hear their review of Netflix’s Inventing Anna.
Don’t call me a poet!
Stephen talks about his struggle with this label as a poet, especially since he began his career as a rap artist. He was really into break dancing and rapping as a kid, but also really enjoyed emcee’ing events and working a crowd. He talks about his childhood best friend (who’s sister is Lizzy Skurnick, ironically someone that Alvina knows from the YA book world!) and the songs they created about the Pope and chickens!
Stephen went to college and took his first poetry class. It was then that he began to explore spoken word and poetry slams in the 90’s. He mentions one of his favorite books, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
Stephen performing on Def Poetry HBO:
He eventually won a poetry slam contest at the Nuyorican cafe and then won a National Poetry slam. Here’s a little bio about the co-host/Alvina’s husband:
Stephen Colman is an award-winning playwright poet performer director and producer. A member of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe 1998 championship slam team, Stephen was the first poet to perform on Def Poetry on HBO. As the inaugural poet of the series, Stephen helped introduce the world to the burgeoning spoken word movement. He went on to co-write and co-star in the Tony® Award-winning Def Poetry on Broadway. A long-time creative collaborator of performance artist Sarah Jones, Stephen co-conceived and assistant directed Sarah's Tony® Award-winning smash-hit solo show Bridge and Tunnel. Produced by Meryl Streep, New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood called Bridge and Tunnel, “A sweet spirited valentine to New York City, its polyglot citizens and the larger notion of an all-inclusive America."
Stephen has produced theater, television and film projects for a variety of popular venues and major studios, including Warner Brothers Television, Paramount Television, HBO Films, Lemon Andersen's "County of Kings" with Spike Lee at The Public Theater and The Sarah Jones Show on Bravo.
He is the co-author of Burning Down The House: Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's National Poetry Slam Champions. Soft Skull Press 1999 and Def Poetry Jam and More. Broadway Books 2005. His poems have appeared in the anthologies New America: Contemporary Literature for a Changing Society. AutumnHouse 2012 and In Your Face: Poems About Real Life. Scholastic 2002. You can catch Stephen playing around NYC with his indie hip-hop americana band S.a.L.a.D.
Fortune Cookie Segment
On behalf of Women’s History Month, Alvina and Stephen wanted to talk about his mom, author Penny Colman. Penny is the author of many nonfiction books, including Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts, Breaking the Chains: The Crusade of Dorthea Lynde Dix, Elizabeth Cady and Susan B. Anthony, and Rosie the Riveter.
What we are grateful for:
Alvina: “I am grateful for Stephen stepping in and co-hosting with me. I am grateful for your family and that we are so close and that we’re able to easily spend time with everyone.”
Stephen is grateful that Alvina asked him to do this! He’s grateful that his family has Alvina who makes such a positive impact on them.
Thank You!
*If you’re a patron, don’t forget to check out this week’s Random Questions feed! Authors Traci Sorell and Grace Lin answer the random question: “If you had a pet parrot, what would you teach it to say?” Click here to listen! If you’re not a patron already, join today!
Thank you for tuning in! Thank you to Hachette Audio, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Alex at Pacyworks Studio for producing and editing this podcast. Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about us. (Use the hashtag #bookfriendsforever.)
You can find Alvina @Planetalvina on Twitter and TikTok and @Alvinaling on Instagram
You can find Stephen @stephenacolman on Instagram and my website is thestevecolman.com
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