FELLOWS

Poets for Liberation:

Cultivating Poets for a New World

The Poets for Liberation Fellowship is a 9-month program from the BLIS Collective designed to uplift emerging poets as powerful voices in our movements for repair, redistribution, and solidarity.

Rooted in the belief that poetry shapes culture, shifts narratives, and moves policy, this fellowship supports artists in bridging creative expression with political organizing. Our Poets for Liberation Fellows, all based in New York, will be integrated into our core coalition work across the state.

The fellows will: 

  • Engage directly in BLIS-led coalitions and campaigns.

  • Lead and participate in narrative research, workshops, and political education.

  • Create original poems that reflect movement goals and solidarity values. 

  • Host a political education event in their community.

  • Present their work in a culminating Liberation Poetry Slam. 

By rooting poetry in political education and coalition work, we're building cultural infrastructure -- one where creative leaders are also the drives of growing our movements. 

Somah Toya Haaland

Somah Toya Haaland is a queer + neurodivergent artist from the Pueblo of Laguna. They earned their BA in Theatre from the University of New Mexico in 2017, where they lovingly pursued their passion for movement and storytelling that was instilled in them at a young age. They have been living as a guest on Munsee Lenape/Canarsie lands (Brooklyn, NY) since 2019. Their words have been featured in Teen Vogue, NBC News, the New Yorker, and American Theater Magazine. They have published two poems as a part of the collections found in Our Red Book and My Life: Growing Up Native in America. In 2021, they consulted and voiced the narration for the documentary film Our Story: the Indigenous-Led Fight to Protect Greater Chaco. Somah currently serves on the Board of Directors for their beloved grassroots community organization, Pueblo Action Alliance. In addition to poetry, they love film, traveling, and photography. They are passionate about using art and language as a vehicles to build new worlds that protect and preserve our land, air, waters, and sacred places.

What does being a Poet for Liberation mean to you? 

To be a Poet for Liberation is to weave together the truths of our history with the dreams for our future. It is to unapologetically stand at this crossroads and demand justice while simultaneously fostering empathy with an open heart through the genuine sharing of one’s spirit and lived experience. To be a poet for liberation is to harbor a deep and unconditional love and respect for humanity, knowing that our survival is interdependent.

Italy Ja’Rae Lee

Italy Ja’Rae Lee is a second-year student at NYU Tisch School of the Arts studying at the Atlantic Acting School. A multi-talented artist, Italy won the New Jersey state championship of Poetry Out Loud in 2022, which inspired her to write and perform spoken word poetry across New York. She has since performed at notable venues like the Apollo Victoria Theatre, Count Basie Theatre, S.O.B’s, Dodge Poetry Festival, and the Skirball Center where she won the audience choice award at Ultra Violet Live. This past summer she claimed the title of the Teen Slam Champ of NYC after winning Parlee Endeavor's annual “Battle of the Boroughs” competition. She also performed at NYU “Portraits” alongside other artists, one of them the notable actress—Stephanie Hsu. Recently, she released her first short film “Coiling” in collaboration with Taurean Houston; a poetry jazz-infused visualizer that breaks the narratives on black hair. Inspired by the late Nikki Giovanni, Italy uses her work to advocate for arts education, dismantle toxic societal narratives, and bridge the gaps between Communities.

What does being a Poet for Liberation mean to you? 

Within my artistry, being a Poet for Liberation means to be an advocate through my gift. Poetry is a bridge between truth (vulnerability) and the world as a whole. I like to think of it as agape: “the highest form of love”. Poetry is my love language, a way to translate my love for the world into metaphors and weaving words into a larger truth. I love the world so inherently I love humanity. Being a Poet for Liberation means actively striving for a world rooted in justice, peace, and collective liberation. Being a poet means believing in a brighter future, even when the world itself cannot see one. Being a poet is to be the seed of optimism amidst a garden of suffering – because in our world, optimism is revolutionary, just like love. Poetry then becomes a vessel of hope, fueling the strength of the marginalized.

Delaney Jordan

Delaney Jordan is a 19-year-old slam poet, playwright, and teaching artist whose work explores the intersections of mental health, identity, social justice, and spirituality. A sophomore at New York University, she designed her own major—Educational Poetic Therapy—blending poetry with therapeutic practices to foster healing and community building. Delaney’s raw, vulnerable, and authentic voice draws from personal experience and faith, using performance as a tool for empowerment and activism. She wrote Sterile, a one-woman play exploring identity and trauma, produced in collaboration with HI-ARTS and Urban Word. As a teaching artist with Manifesto Inc., she supports foster children and Bronx youth in processing their experiences through poetry. A fierce competitor and advocate, Delaney has performed at events like Woman of the World Poetry Slam and Brave New Voices, and at venues including the Nuyorican Poets Café and Harlem Bomb Shelter. Through her art and outreach, she amplifies marginalized voices and creates space for dialogue, healing, and transformation.

What does being a Poet for Liberation mean to you? 

Being a Poet for Liberation is stepping into a long tradition of poets who’ve come before me. It’s about reflecting on why we remember Audre Lorde and understanding the weight of that memory. It’s not just about doing the research—it’s about making that knowledge accessible and heard. Being a Poet for Liberation means refusing to be passive in this moment of history. It means I’m ready to reflect the world back to itself, hoping that the truth we find in those reflections will set us free. It’s about recognizing the unsung organizers behind the Harlem Renaissance and understanding what Toni Morrison meant when she said, “Now is the time for artists to go to work.” Being a Poet for Liberation means getting to work.