Meilani Clay

Meilani Clay (born January 11, 1988) is a conscious writer, educator and poetry slam champion from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. She emerged as part of Youth Speaks, a youth performance poetry and creative writing program founded in 1996, and served on SPOKES (Selected-Poets-Organizing-Kreating-&-Expanding-Spoken Word), a Youth Advisory Board and paid internship program. Clay also taught in an academic enrichment program, formerly known as Summerbridge National, which caters to urban youth with high potential but limited resources. She was a Bay Area representative at the Ninth Annual Brave New Voices (BNV) International Youth Poetry Slam Contest in New York City. She performed at the Grand Slam Finals in the world famous Apollo Theater and helped her team win the top prize. Clay has been hailed as one of the most promising voices of her generation—an agent of social change, and a teacher and inquiring learner by nature. Since Fall 2006, she has attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. with a full scholarship.

Published Media

• Society, (2004). Bringing The Noise Vol. 4, vocal, writer. (Youth Speaks Inc./Hard Knock Radio)
• Loads, (2005). Bringing The Noise Vol. 4, vocal, writer. (Youth Speaks Inc./Hard Knock Radio)
• Search For Home, (2008). (self-published)
• Poetry Anthology, in production. (First Word Press)

Television

Meilani Clay was a featured poet on Episode 3 of the sixth season of HBO's Def Poetry. She performed a piece about questioning God, entitled "Lost."

Film

Clay is featured in 2nd Verse: The Rebirth of Poetry, a documentary/drama from director Carl Brown and Corduroy Media.

External links

• Youth Speaks Official Site
• "Loads" Clay's Poem on Uth TV

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Name	Clay, Meilani
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Date of birth	January 11, 1988
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