About the Artist

MICHELLE MYERS is an award-winning poet and educator. Appearing on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam as a founding member of Yellow Rage, Michelle harnesses her experiences as a biracial Korean American woman to create work that raises awareness and builds community. As a solo artist, Michelle has received numerous grants and awards, including a Transformation Award (2014) and an Art and Change Grant (2011) by the Leeway Foundation and a Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship First Alternate (2018) and Honorable Mention (2014) by The Loft Literary Center. Michelle currently hosts a podcast called Mind Your Margins, which is produced by her daughter, Myong.

HER WRITING has been published in Apiary, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Title Magazine, Brevity, and USA Today. Her work has also received recognition by the Smithsonian Channel, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Asian Arts Initiative, Japanese American National Museum, Philadelphia Jazz Project, and The Artists Forum in NYC. In 2020, she was selected as a Dodge Poet by the Dodge Poetry Program, an affiliate of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and performed as a Festival Poet in the 2020 Dodge Poetry Festival. In 2022, Michelle’s poetry was featured in the NY Times bestseller Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now as well as in the print and audiobook versions of My Life: Growing Up Asian in America. Michelle appears on the cover of the paperback version of My Life, released in April 2023.

MICHELLE’S CREATIVE work informs her position as an Associate Professor in the English Department at Community College of Philadelphia where she has received recognition, such as a 2018 President’s Award for Excellence in Service to the College; a 2016 President’s Award for Excellence in Fostering Student Success; a six-time Emmy Nomination for the Drop the Mic Spoken Word Poetry Competition television program that she hosts and co-created; and a 2010 Student Club Advisor of the Year Award (Spoken Word Poetry Club).