2Leaf Press Celebrates THE OGs NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: Jesús Papoleto Meléndez and Abiodun Oyewole

Tickets are $20 and are available for sale
from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Box Office
Tickets are $25 at the door (if available)

RESCHEDULED FROM APRIL 27 to JUNE 8, 2023

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe presents THE OGs: CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS OF POETRY, featuring Original Nuyorican Poet Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The evening begins with a book signing at 5:30 pm and poetry reading and performance from 7:00pm-8:30pm.

Jesús Papoleto Meléndez (“Papo”) is an award-winning New York-born Puerto Rican poet who is recognized as one of the founders of the Nuyorican Movement. He has published several books of poetry, and published four books with 2Leaf Press. His latest book Hey Yo! Yo Soy! is a second edition of his first book with 2Leaf Press and will be available for sale at the event. A 20-minute video clip of the documentary, No Escape From the Firescape (2023) featuring Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, an Audio Visual Terrorism film produced and directed by Vagabond, and presented at the event.

Abiodun Oyewole is a poet, teacher, and founding member of the American music and spoken word group The Last Poets (1968), which laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip hop. He has performed on four Last Poets’ albums and released two solo song albums. He has published two poetry collections, a book of essays, and is the editor of Black Lives Have Always Mattered (2017) by 2Leaf Press, which will be available for sale at the books signing.

Meléndez and Oyewole represent an intersection of Nuyorican and African American poetry that began during the lates sixties during the emergence of the Black Arts and Nuyorican movements, which navigated the streets of African American and Latino neighborhoods with an urban angst and strong doses of collective love. The prodigal sons and daughters from these movements helped transform New York street culture and formed, with their multiracial cohorts, the basis for what would become hip-hop culture. Today, African American and Nuyorican poets continue to engage with contemporary social issues and the national and global marketing of identity. What has not changed after all these years is the work of poetry pioneers, Meléndez, and Oyewole in meaningful ways.

Nuyorican Poets Cafe
236 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009
(212) 780-9386

This program is produced by 2Leaf Press Inc. and Audio Visual Terrorism in conjunction with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.