Nkosi Nkululeko

Nkosi Nkululeko is a brilliant new poetic voice, whose carefully crafted works explodes when he delivers his passionate performances.

Once and a while, a new poetic voice emerges, and becomes the voice of his generation.

Nkosi Nkululeko is multi-nominated for Best of the Net, as well as nominated for the Independent Best American Poetry and the Pushcart Prize. He is affiliated with the I Sell The Shadow collective, for which he has performed in venues for The United Nations and in Copenhagen, Denmark for the Women’s Deliver conference.

 

Nkosi is the New York City Youth Poet Laureate, and is Poets House Fellow. He was a speaker for TEDxNewYork and a finalist for the Winter Tangerine Awards for Poetry. His work is published or forthcoming in [PANK] Magazine, Third Coast, VINYL, No Token, and other publications.

 

Video: “Not Finished Yet”

 

Video: “Ali”

 

Nkosi Nkululeko's poems are young, leafy tendrils sprung from Poetry's dark and singing American riverbank. His lines will have you leaning in close to hear the currents of his questioning, word by word, the soil in which he's been planted.

- -Tyehimba Jess, author of Olio and leadbelly

"Nkosi represents the top tier of both artistic excellence and youth leadership, that teens are more than capable of achieving. When we believe that our youth can excel at the highest levels, not only do they meet our challenge, but they thrive. That’s what this program represents, and Nkosi is the embodiment of those principles in action. We’re thrilled that he is the 2016 NYC Youth Poet Laureate."

- Michael Cirelli, executive director of Urban Word NYC