Gabriel Cortez

Gabriel Cortez is a Black biracial poet, educator, and organizer of Panamanian descent. His work has appeared in the New York Times, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Rumpus, and The Breakbeat Poets Anthology Volume 4. He is a VONA fellow, #BARS workshop alum, NALAC grant recipient, and winner of the Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize. Gabriel is a member of the artist collective, Ghostlines, and co-founder of The Root Slam, an award-winning poetry venue dedicated to inclusivity, justice, and artistic growth, as well as Write Home, a project working to challenge public perceptions of houselessness and shift critical resources to houseless Bay Area youth through spoken word poetry. Gabriel works as Director of Programs at Youth Speaks, one of the world’s leading presenters of spoken word performance, education, and youth development programs.