Tara Betts
Encyclopedia
Tara Betts is the author of the book Arc & Hue, her debut collection on the Willow Books imprint of Aquarius Press. In 2010, Essence Magazine named her as one of their "40 Favorite Poets".
Tara is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University
in New Brunswick, NJ. A Cave Canem
graduate, Tara received her MFA in Poetry from New England College
and residencies from Ragdale Foundation, Centrum and Caldera, and an Illinois Arts Council Artist fellowship.
She appeared on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam”
and in the Black Family Channel
series “SPOKEN” with Jessica Care Moore
. She has also been one of the writers/performers in girlstory-an intergenerational, multicultural women’s performance collective. Tara has also performed in plays, including two SouthWest V-Day productions of Eve Ensler’s
“Vagina Monologues” at Chicago’s DuSable Museum. After winning Guild Complex’s Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award, she represented Chicago twice at the National Poetry Slam
.
Tara’s work has appeared in Essence, the Steppenwolf Theater production “Words on Fire,” Obsidian III, Callaloo, PMS, Meridians, Drum Voices Revue, WSQ, Columbia Poetry Review, Ninth Letter, Hanging Loose, Drunken Boat, Mythium, Reverie, and WombPoetry. Her work has been anthologized in Gathering Ground (University of Michigan Press), Bum Rush the Page (Three Rivers Press), Power Lines (Tia Chucha Press), Poetry Slam (Manic D Press), Black Writing from Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press), ROLE CALL (Third World Press), These Hands I Know (Sarabande), Best Black Women’s Erotica 2 (Cleis Press), Hurricane Blues (Southeast Missouri University Press), Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism (Parker Publishing), Fingernails Across a Chalkboard (Third World Press) and Letters to the World (Red Hen Press).
Tara has also been a freelance writer for publications such as XXL, The Source, BIBR, Mosaic Magazine and Black Radio Exclusive.
Poems Online
Reviews
Interviews
Audio/Video Links
Tara is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in New Brunswick, NJ. A Cave Canem
Cave Canem Foundation
Cave Canem Foundation is an American 501 organization established to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in Master of Fine Arts programs and writing workshops across the United States...
graduate, Tara received her MFA in Poetry from New England College
New England College
New England College is a private four-year college in Henniker, New Hampshire, enrolling a total of approximately 1800 undergraduate and graduate students.-History:The school was created in 1946 for students attending college on the G.I...
and residencies from Ragdale Foundation, Centrum and Caldera, and an Illinois Arts Council Artist fellowship.
She appeared on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam”
Def Poetry
Def Poetry, also known as Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry or Def Poetry Jam, which was co-founded by Bruce George, Danny Simmons and Deborah Pointer, is an HBO television series produced by hip-hop music entrepreneur Russell Simmons. The series presents performances by established spoken word...
and in the Black Family Channel
Black Family Channel
Black Family Channel was a network for African American families and the only black-owned and operated cable television network...
series “SPOKEN” with Jessica Care Moore
Jessica Care Moore
Jessica Care Moore is an African American poet born in Detroit, on October 28, 1971.-Career:Moore first won acclaim as the first poet to ever win the nationally televised Showtime at the Apollo competition 5 times in a row. That same year, she would be filmed for the documentary SlamNation...
. She has also been one of the writers/performers in girlstory-an intergenerational, multicultural women’s performance collective. Tara has also performed in plays, including two SouthWest V-Day productions of Eve Ensler’s
Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...
“Vagina Monologues” at Chicago’s DuSable Museum. After winning Guild Complex’s Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award, she represented Chicago twice at the National Poetry Slam
National Poetry Slam
The National Poetry Slam is a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and France participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurs in early August every year and takes place in a different US city....
.
Tara’s work has appeared in Essence, the Steppenwolf Theater production “Words on Fire,” Obsidian III, Callaloo, PMS, Meridians, Drum Voices Revue, WSQ, Columbia Poetry Review, Ninth Letter, Hanging Loose, Drunken Boat, Mythium, Reverie, and WombPoetry. Her work has been anthologized in Gathering Ground (University of Michigan Press), Bum Rush the Page (Three Rivers Press), Power Lines (Tia Chucha Press), Poetry Slam (Manic D Press), Black Writing from Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press), ROLE CALL (Third World Press), These Hands I Know (Sarabande), Best Black Women’s Erotica 2 (Cleis Press), Hurricane Blues (Southeast Missouri University Press), Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism (Parker Publishing), Fingernails Across a Chalkboard (Third World Press) and Letters to the World (Red Hen Press).
Tara has also been a freelance writer for publications such as XXL, The Source, BIBR, Mosaic Magazine and Black Radio Exclusive.
Published works
Full-Length Poetry Collections- Arc and Hue (Willow Books, 2009).
Poems Online
External links
Reviews
- Calyx, Vol. 26:1, Summer 2010 http://www.calyxpress.org/262.htm
- Poetry Foundation’sPoetry FoundationThe Poetry Foundation is a Chicago-based American foundation created to promote poetry in the wider culture. It was formed from Poetry magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Ruth Lilly....
Harriet blog review of Arc and Hue - Meridian, Issue 24, 2010 http://readmeridian.org/?page_id=43
- Feminist Review http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2010/03/arc-and-hue.html
- Defenders Online http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/
Interviews
- Live Unchained http://liveunchained.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/poetry-is-not-a-luxury-a-conversation-with-tara-betts/
- Split This RockSplit This RockSplit This Rock, a national nonprofit organization of poets, artists, and activists based in Washington, D.C.The organization's stated goals are: To celebrate the poetry of provocation and witness being written, published, and performed in the United States today; and to call poets to a greater...
Interview with Tara Betts - GirlSpeak http://www.youngchicagoauthors.org/girlspeak/2008/features/tara_betts.html
- La Bloga http://labloga.blogspot.com/2007/07/tara-betts-truth-in-plain-brown-wrapper.html
Audio/Video Links
- Poems on WNYCWNYCWNYC is a set of call letters shared by a pair of co-owned, non-profit, public radio stations located in New York City.WNYC broadcasts on the AM band at 820 kHz, and WNYC-FM is at 93.9 MHz. Both stations are members of National Public Radio and carry distinct, but similar news/talk programs...
- “Chicago Amplified” on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio
- Tara Betts on “The Blood-Jet Writing Hour” with Rachelle Cruz