Junious Ward

Junious 'Jay' Ward is a poet and teaching artist from Charlotte, NC. He is a National Slam champion (2018), an Individual World Poetry Slam champion (2019), and the author of Sing Me A Lesser Wound (Bull City Press, 2020) and Composition (forthcoming from Button Poetry, 2022). Jay currently serves as a Program Director for BreatheInk, where he facilitates writing and performance workshops and coaches youth poets attending Brave New Voices each year. He serves as vice-chair for the board of The Watering Hole, a non-profit organization that aims to nurture writers of color in the Southern tradition. He also serves on several curatorial committees related to the arts in Charlotte. He has attended Breadloaf Writer's Conference, Callaloo, The Watering Hole and Tin House Winter Workshop. His work can be found in Crabfat Magazine, Lackadaisy Lit Mag, Four Way Review, Diode Poetry Journal, and on Button Poetry. 

Guest Speaker:

• UNC Charlotte
• Hofstra University
• National Council for Black Studies

Workshops:

• Hofstra University
• Kenyon College
• Charlotte Main Library
• Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts & Culture
• One Word Poetry Festival

Honors:

• 2019 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion
• 2018 National Poetry Slam Champion
• 2017 Callaloo Fellow
• 2017 The Watering Hole Graduate Fellow
• 2016 Write Bloody Finalist
• 2016 Queen City Awards Poet of the Year