The City of Urbana’s Arts and Culture Program has announced the name of Urbana’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate, Urbana High School student, Danyla Nash.
The following comes directly from their social media announcement:
Danyla Nash (she/her) is a writer and spoken word artist from Urbana, Illinois. For over three years, she has been a foundational member of the Writers of Oya, a spoken word artist and writer’s program for young girls of color. She has performed original poetry in local, regional, and national venues including Soul on Sunday, Talks with Tari on 104.5, ciLiving, Sounds Like Community, Art Now!, Pygmalion Literary Marathon, Hood Vote Neighborhood Transformation’s civic events, Luminous Magazine, United Way’s Teen Summit, Black Voices Theatre Production, and two National African American Parent Involvement Day performances. Her poetry is published in Unmasked, a collection of poetry from the Writers of Oya and its subsequent audiobook. She’s a 2021 MLK, Jr. Creative Expressions Competition winner and presented her own workshop, “Spittin’ the Unspeakable: Using Slam Poetry to Cope with Trauma” at the National Guild for Community Arts Educators. She has the ability to take her experiences and connect them to larger social, political, racial, and economic themes. Danyla is a Scholar award recipient student at Urbana High School and when not writing, she plays flute and oboe, performs in color guard, and spends time with her family. She’s working on her first poetry collection due out later this year.
Celebrate Danyla Nash at the Inauguration Celebration at Lincoln Square on March 25th. See details below.
Inauguration Celebration for Urbana’s Youth Poet Laureate Danyla Nash
March 25th, 7-8:30 p.m.
Lincoln Square Mall
Urbana
Photo (cropped) from the Urbana Arts and Culture Program Facebook page.
