Santa Clara Public Library

A talk with the Tony Award-winning poet, Beau Sia! We will discuss his new book of poetry, Well Played, and his life as a creative today. 

About this Event 

The Santa Clara City Library is proud to present this talk with the one and only, Beau Sia! From his explosive debut at poetry venues like The Nuyorican Poet’s Café, appearing in films and music videos, featured in all six seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam, publishing books, spoken word albums, and winning a Tony Award to boot, we will have the honor of getting to hear about his new book, Well Played, and what's he up to today. 

https://www.notacult.media/author/beau-sia

Bio: 

Beau Sia is a Tony Award-winning poet, featured on all seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry, and is the author of Well Played. Through his poetry, he explores the possibility of metaphor beyond the poem. Through his poems, he expresses the potential of metaphor to develop out of hurt, rise from being bound to role, and to teach purpose more potent than power. 

He is the son of Chinese immigrants from the Philippines and a world-renowned poet and performer. Raised in Oklahoma City, he discovered poetry as a way to express himself in an environment where he felt invisible. After high school, Beau moved to New York, to pursue his dreams of becoming a poet and to attend NYU’s Dramatic Writing Program at The Tisch School of The Arts. His life as a poet would come quicker than expected, after he won his first poetry slam at The Nuyorican Poet’s Café. 

Since that night, Beau Sia has become an integral figure in Spoken Word. He has been on six National Poetry Slam teams, four having advanced to the finals, two of which were National Champions. He was one of the writers and performers for Norman Lear’s Declaration of Independence Road Trip. 

Through his work in Poetry Slam and Spoken Word, Beau Sia has been given other avenues to share his work and voice. He is the author of the poetry books A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge and The Undisputed Greatest Writer of All Time. He has toured from Johannesburg to Sydney, performed in front of students from Harvard to UT-Austin, and shared his work on stages such as The Apollo and Radio City Music Hall. In recent years, he has been fortunate to also develop as an educator in poetry, facilitating workshops for Urban Word and Youthspeaks.

Beau continues to evolve as an artist, developing as an Actor, Director, and Content Creator- but poetry will always be his first love. He has spent over 20 years on his craft, and after all the accolades and accomplishments, feels he is starting to truly understand the power of poetry. It is with this understanding of poetry as culture, as healing, as transformation, that he moves forward in his work. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

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