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The Collective

Feature date(s): 11/10/2003

The Collective is:

Derrick Brown is a native of Charlotte North Carolina and currently resides in the artistic hamlet of Mount Rainier Maryland. As a writer and poet Derrick has been involved with the word in some way shape or form for nearly eighteen years, and at 27 he still has a way to go. Derrick is currently finishing up his final year of graduate school at American University where he is pursuing a Masters Of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing in poetry.Since moving to the D.C area in 2001 Derrick has become very involved in the local writers community. He has read his work at many area poetry venues: Urban Energy, Mangoes, Bar Nun, The Java Head Cafe, University Of Maryland at College Park, Harambe's and the now defunct Yogi's Records among others. Derrick was a member of The Sun Cypher poetry troupe, a seven man team of performance poets who put on a show in the tiny Black Box theatre of The DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan. Lastly, Derrick's poetry has appeared in such publications as Sauiti Mpya, aliterary journal of the University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The 2003 February Issue Black Books Issues and Reviews, When Words Become Flesh: An anthology of area poets compiled and edited by Myisha Cherry and The 2002-2003 Cave Canem poetry Anthology of which Derrick is a proud member. He is currently compiling poems for his first book hopefully ready in the Spring of 2004.

Darry Strickland, an educator and poet hailing from Decatur, Georgia, has taught elementary school and high school in Washington, DC, for nine years. Currently he is an educational consultant working with school reform initiatives and literacy instruction. As a poet he has performed his poetry with the Billy Taylor Jazz Trio and the National Symphony Orchestra's "Monuments to the City," directed by Robert Kapilow. He recently returned from Cave Canem where he was a 2003 Fellow.

John S. Murillo is an Afro-Chicano poet, playwright, and essayist from Los Angeles, California. He came to D.C. a few years ago to attend Howard University, where he earned a bachelors degree in philosophy. He is a Cave Canem fellow and a former instructor with DCWritersCorps. A coach of D.C.'s 2001 National Teen Poetry Slam Team, John has performed his own work from The Kaffa House to The Kennedy Center. In May of 2002, the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities awarded him the Larry Neal Award in Poetry.

Venus Thrash is a third year MFA student at American University. She is a Cave Canem fellow and has had her poetry published in a number of magazines and anthologies, including forthcoming work in Gargoyle.