SEASON 36 | january 2024

mlk day open mic poetry night
MONDAY january 15, 2024

Honor the spirit and memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on our national holiday. Join host Ebony Stewart and the community onstage at The VORTEX for an open mic night. Bring your poetry to share, or simply come and witness the free-flowing words of others. Sign up at 6:30 p.m. 

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies”.

                                 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

About Ebony Stewart

Ebony Stewart is an international touring interdisciplinary poet, writer, and performance artist. Her work speaks to the Black experience, with emphasis on gender, sexuality, womanhood, queer-positivity, and race, with the hopes to be relatable, remove shame, heal minds, encourage dialogue, and inspire folks in marginalized communities. As one of the most decorated poets in Texas, Ebony is a respected coach and mentor, one of the top touring poets in the country, and a Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. The mental health advocate and former sexual health educator also has a Master's in Social Work and is soon to be the hood’s favorite therapist. As a playwright, Ebony’s one woman shows, Hunger and OCEAN have received B. Iden Payne Awards and the David Mark Cohen New Play Award. She is the author of BloodFresh, Home.Girl.Hood., and Love Letters to Balled Fists. Her work has been featured in AfroPunk, Button Poetry, Teen Vogue, The Texas Observer, and Houston Public Media. Let us not forget, the only poet to perform at the Seattle 2018 Pride Festival before 200,000 people, was Ebony Stewart. She is the #storyoftheblackgirlwinning.