Our Story.
IC Speaks began in 2019 when Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey decided his weekly spoken word club at West High, originally in partnership with the Iowa Youth Writing Project, should expand to the whole district. The workshops served as a place for young writers to be their true selves and share their story—it was evident that all Iowa City youth deserved this opportunity.
Local organizations agreed and some, like the Iowa Youth Writing Project and The Englert Theatre partnered with the newly formed IC Speaks. But the most integral part of IC Speaks’ first chapter was Iowa City Poetry—directed by Lisa Roberts—becoming the program’s official parent organization.
With the support of Iowa City Poetry and Caleb’s weekly workshops at Tate High, City High, Liberty High, and West High, this new program was quickly growing & thriving until… the pandemic.
When faced with this new challenge, the young writers requested that workshops continue virtually. The usual school-specific workshops combined into one weekly Zoom for all students to join. Some even said, “this is the one Zoom I look forward to.”
As the world opened up, so did IC Speaks. While making the spoken word club series hybrid, other in-person series were added to create space for every kind of young poet.
For performance poets, the High School Open Mic offers the historic Englert Theatre stage as a safe place to practice. For the casual writer looking for community, the Porchlight Hangouts are perfect. For page poets that have dreams of publication, there is a contest that selects a young writer’s piece to print in the Little Village Mag.
WHO WE ARE.
WHO WE ARE.
Founders
Caleb Rainey
STAFF
Caleb Rainey
Director
Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey (he/him) is an author, performer, and event producer. He has published two books, Look, Black Boy and Heart Notes, released two albums, produced a short film with the Brucemore titled Willing to Grow, and starred in an award winning documentary titled The Negro Artist. In 2024 he was the recipient of the Iowa Author Award for Poetry. He is the winner of several slams across the United States, placed 7th in the 2023 UNESCO Slam-0-Vision global poetry slam, and curates a community of spoken word in Iowa City through his high school program, IC Speaks, and producing events like the Mic Check Poetry Fest.
Warren
School Liaison
Warren C. Longmire (he/him) is a poet, performer, and educator from the bad part of North Philadelphia. He is a co-founder of the Excelano Project Spoken Word collective. He is a CUPSI grand slam and National Poetry Slam group piece finalist and has coached the Philly Pigeon and Fuze Slam Teams. Warren has performed in venues including the Kimmel Center and the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe in New York City and has performed on stage with artists including Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Major Jackson, and Staceyann Chin. Warren's work was featured in the 2022 edition of the Best American Poetry Anthology, selected by Tracey K. Smith. His latest book, Bird/Diz [an erased history of bebop], was published in 2022 by Bunny Presse. He is pursuing his master's in poetry at the Iowa Writer's Workshop.
Lisa Roberts
Reuben
Assistant Director
Ruth Thomas (she/her) has been a member of IC Speaks since 2019, where she’s led and participated in workshops, competed on the State Slam team at iLUV Poetry Festival, and has unofficially been dubbed “The Poetry Gremlin.” She has been published in assorted literary magazines such as Ice Lolly Review, Aster Lit, and most recently The Real Mainstream. Outside of writing, she loves taking care of her many plants, baking, and crocheting when she finds the time to sit down and binge a series.
Marne
School Liaison
Marne (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, who grew up in New York City. She has been writing poetry since the age of eight, and began her spoken word career at the age of 15 when she made the 2007 Urban Word slam team. Her slam team competed at Brave New Voices, teen poetry nationals in California, placing 3rd on the final stage out of 40 teams. Since 2007, Marne has placed 3rd in the Knicks Poetry Slam winning scholarship money and prizes. She was the recipient of a First Wave scholarship. She is a National CUPSI slam champion, as a part of the 2010 University of Wisconsin CUPSI team. She has performed both locally and internationally, with features and gigs at, The Nuyorican Poets Café, The Bowery, Winter Gardens with Cocoa Rosie, Queen Godis’ Video Release, BAM, The Point, Hammerstein Ballroom, The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty D Shabazz Memorial Educational Center, and Contact Theatre in Manchester England, to name a few. In her junior year of high school, she wrote her one woman show entitled “The Insides Ain’t Pink Enough” and performed it in collaboration with Dance Theatre Workshop, in New York City. Her work is published in Connect. Politic. Ditto Urban Word NYC Publications. She hopes to continue to pass the mic and empower the youth through art and poetry. Her photography and other art can be found at https://gunonsunday.weebly.com/
Ms. BG
Teacher Sponsor
[School]
Hannah/Charlie
Assistant Director
Hannah/Charlie Hall (he/she/they) is an 18-year-old self-proclaimed: storyteller, poet, and writer. Hailing from Iowa City, Iowa, they are focused on showing the real and often ugly stories of mental illness, finding your identity as genderqueer, and learning to love a hard-to-love world. Hannah/Charlie is an Iowa City and Ames poetry slam winner, Between The Lines writing program graduate, and competed in Iowas’ first and second state youth poetry slam in Des Moines. Hannah/Charlie Hall has been featured on Iowa Public Radio and placed third in the 2022 IC Speaks Page Poetry Contest. She/he was also Published in the 2022 October issue of “The Real MAINstream.” She/he was an opening performer for Film Scene’s 2022 film fest “Refocus” and competed in the UNESCO City of Literature global slam; Hannah/Charlie was also an opening performer for Ebony Stewart and Patrica Smith, two legends in the writing world.
Jen
Youth Ambassador
Jen Tran (she/her) is a poet who is a part of IC Speaks. She has been writing poetry since her freshman year and has had the pleasure of meeting some amazing poets from around the world through her work in IC Speaks. She adores spreading her love of poetry to everyone she meets and is happy to have been given the opportunity to formally lend a hand. Jen is also known for her crazy energy, which her fellow poets have come to call, "Jenergy." Due to this, Jen would like for future friends to be hyper-aware for when her tornado-like personality comes to greet them next.
Mr. Nasafi
Teacher Sponsor
[School]
Community partners
The Englert
The James
Iowa City Poetry
Hancher
Iowa City Public Library
Riverside
Big Grove
VOLUNTEER
Support local art like you mean it.
We’re looking for volunteers who care about words, community support, and amplifying voices. No degree required— just good vibes and willingness to pitch in.
Help us host, build, break down, market, and any/all things that help keep this young, brilliant, and creative community thriving.
Drop your info (to the right), we’d love to connect!