Raymond Nat Turner is a member of the NWU NY Local Steering Committee and NYC poet privileged to have read at the Harriet Tubman Centennial Symposium. He is Artistic Director of the stalwart JazzPoetry Ensemble UpSurge and has appeared at numerous festivals and venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival and Panafest in Ghana West Africa. He currently is Poet-in-Residence at Black Agenda Report. Turner has opened for such people as James Baldwin, People’s Advocate Cynthia McKinney, radical sportswriter Dave Zirin and CA Congresswoman Barbara Lee following her lone vote against attacking Afghanistan. Check out some of his written and performance work in the links below and see for yourself how he is making and impact with his JazzPoetry ensemble UpSurge! and beyond:
- (5/22/16) UpSurge! NYC performance in the Black Box Theater at the Left Forum at John Jay College.
- (5/9/16) Raymond and wife Zigi Lowenberg at the Puffin Gallery for Social Activism, Museum of the City of New York, for the 2016 Clara Lemlich Awards.
- aaduna.org Summer/Fall 2015: A Timeless Exploration Into Words And Images – Poetry by Raymond Nat Turner
- Uhuru Radio (10/11/15) – Tribute to activist Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter
- Several works on the Black Agenda Report (9/15/15) – BAR poet-in-residence poems
- Dissident Arts Festival Performance (8/15/15) –
- Poetry piece in the Dissident Voice newsletter (8/9/15) – “Mississippi Stuntmen.”
- Poetry piece in the Dissident Voice newsletter (6/21/15) – “Black Lives Matter…little under capitalism...“
- United National Anti-War Coalition Performance – Click here to see video
- Poetry Workshop- Booker T. Washington Community Center in Auburn, NY – Click here to see video and read article (“Poetry reigns in Auburn with aaduna” by Ellen M. Blalock – 5/28/15)
- Poetry and jazz: Surging together in Berkeley. (Andrew Gilbert writes about UpSurge! in Berkeleyside -4/23/15). To read, click here…
- UpSurge! Jazz Poetry Ensemble (Raymond Nat Turner and Zigi Lowenberg) is interviewed on “Oakland Is” by host Zina F Hall (4/26/15).
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