Kevin Coval
Photo by Davin Youngs
Kevin Coval’s spoken word obsession began early, when he discovered hip-hop rhythms in his haftorah portion. Since then, he’s been honing his skills—writing radical, intelligent verse with working-class narratives—and giving intense live performances all over the world. His Chicago-based organization, Louder Than A Bomb, is the largest youth poetry slam in the country, and his book Slingshots (A Hip-Hop Poetica), was named a Book of the Year finalist by the American Library Association.
