2023 BYPL Judges
Rafael Casal
Rafael Casal is a critically acclaimed, award-nominated Writer, Director, Actor, Producer, Poet and Musician who grew up in the Bay Area. He is the Showrunner for the Starz/Lionsgate Series “Blindspotting.” The Series is born from the Feature Film, “Blindspotting,” which Casal co-wrote the screenplay with Daveed Diggs. It also marked his feature debut as an Actor, playing ‘Miles.’ The celebrated Film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and became a part of a bidding war won by Lionsgate for distribution. As a Musician, Casal has written music for the Apple TV+ series, “Central Park,” as well as music for “Blindspotting.” Casal got his creative start doing poetry slams at Berkeley High and as a Youth Speaks / Brave New Voices poet.
José Vadi
José Vadi is the author of Inter State: Essays From California and CHIPPED, a forthcoming nonfiction collection on skateboarding. He is also the author of SoMa Lurk, a collection of photos and poems published by Project Kalahati / Pro Arts Commons. José first started writing and performing spoken word at the Starry Plough and UC Berkeley's CalSlam, and taught after-school writing workshops at Berkeley High School in the early 2000s through the literary nonprofit, Youth Speaks. He earned his MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Mills College in Oakland. His work has been featured by the Paris Review, The Atlantic, the PBS NewsHour, the San Francisco Chronicle, Free Skate Magazine, Quartersnacks, Alta Journal of California, and The Yale Review.
Maw Shein Win
Maw Shein Win's most recent poetry collection is Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn) which was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and shortlisted for CALIBA's Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. Win's previous collections include Invisible Gifts and two chapbooks Ruins of a glittering palace and Score and Bone. Win’s Process Note Series features poets and their process. She is the inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito, CA and teaches poetry in the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco. Win often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and other writers and was recently selected as a 2023 YBCA 100 Honoree. Along with Dawn Angelicca Barcelona and Mary Volmer, she is a co-founder of Maker, Mentor, Muse, a new literary community. mawsheinwin.com
Melanie Abrams
Melanie Abrams is the author of the novels Playing and Meadowlark and the nonfiction guide The Joy of Cannabis: 75 Ways to Amplify Your Life Through the Science and Magic of Cannabis and. She is a developmental editor for all kinds of books and teaches creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley.
Collin Edmonds
Collind Edmonds is a writer, educator, organizer, and father from Richmond. CA. He is the co-founder of RichOak Events, one of the largest producers of poetry events in the San Francisco Bay Area. Collin was a member of the Oakland Slam 2018 and Berkeley Slam Team 2019, as well as the 2019 Berkeley Slam Indie Champ of the Berkeley Slam 2023. He is currently the Grand Slam Champ of Berkeley Slam 2023. His work has been featured on Bay Poets Unite, Button Poetry, and in Last Resort Literary Review. Poetry has taken Collin from St. Louis to Canada but still hasn't takem him out the hood.
Laura Woltag
Laura Woltag is a poet and educator living in the Bay Area. Laura is the author of the collection of poems Serviceable Clothes for Life in the Open (speCt! books), and the poetry chapbook Hush Hyletics (Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs). They love to collaborate with local ecologists, visual artists, activists, and elders, to learn, create, and restore. Laura teaches composition, literature, creative writing, and critical thinking to their awesome students at Berkeley City College and College of San Mateo.
Questions?
Contact the BYPL Committee by email, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have: youthpoet@berkeleyca.gov.
Are you over the age of 18? Check out the Berkeley Poet Laureate program, run by the City of Berkeley. Open to Berkeley residents ages 18+. Link coming July 1st!
The Berkeley Youth Poet Laureate program is supported by an alliance of community partners. These community partners include the City of Berkeley Civic Arts Commission and Berkeley Public Schools, with support from Urban Word.
