Jamaica’s Kacy Garvey is best international spoken word artiste

WHILE SHE was on her way back to Jamaica from CARIFESTA in Barbados, spoken-word artiste/poet Kacy Garvey was announced the ‘Best International Artist’ at the prestigious National Spoken Word Awards, held on Friday, August 31.

In speaking with The Gleaner, JAIKU, of which Garvey is cofounder, said, “This marks a significant achievement for Garvey and a proud milestone for Jamaica’s literary and performance arts scene.”

JAIKU is a Caribbean literary collective co-founded by Kacy Garvey and spoken-word artiste Britton Wright, and is dedicated to creating platforms for emerging poets and fostering cross-regional collaboration through workshops, performances, and publishing.

A total of six countries were represented in the Best International Artiste category: Ghana, Canada, United Kingdom, Trinidad, and the United States Virgin Islands. Garvey was one of a few Jamaicans nominated in the category.

“I am deeply honoured and thrilled to have my work recognised and celebrated not just in Jamaica, but beyond its shores. This is a huge milestone for me personally, and it means so much more that I could bring this award home as a Jamaican,” she told The Gleaner. “Jamaican poetry is a powerful force to be reckoned with. We all know it; it is fire in our bones. And, I’m ecstatic that the rest of world sees it.”

“Garvey’s win not only highlights her individual artistry and impact, but also shines a spotlight on Jamaica’s growing influence in the global spoken-word movement. Her victory adds to a rich tradition of Caribbean voices resonating across international stages,” JAIKU also told The Gleaner.

The National Spoken Word Awards were founded in 2017 by De’Andre Hawthorne, alias, Blaq Ice, an international award-winning spoken word poet from Chicago, Illinois, and the father of the current Chicago Poet Laureate.

Hawthorne, who hails from Chicago, created the awards to honour the work of artists and contributors to the genre both in the United States and globally.

Nominees must have proof of a wide catalogue of pieces and extensive experience in spoken word performance across a range of platforms, including live concerts, virtual events and poetry competitions.

Garvey is the 2017 winner of the Cecile de Jongh Literary Prize awarded by The Caribbean Writer, and the 2018 Stanza Poetry Competition hosted by the Pacesetters Toastmasters Club. In 2024, she was a third-place finalist in the following: the inaugural WakeUpJA Art for Liberation Poetry Competition; the Golden Tongue Award hosted by Poetry in Motion, and the JCDC Creative Writing Prize for Poetry. As a finalist for the 2020 Edward Baugh Poetry Prize, she was published in the National Library of Jamaica’s anthology, New Voices: Selected by Lorna Goodison, Poet Laureate of Jamaica, 2017-2020.

In 2014 and 2018, she launched Undone and Water Jar, the first and only Christian poetry albums published in Jamaica thus far. The title of her debut work, Undone, was inspired by her practice of completing poems while performing them onstage through complete dependence on the Holy Spirit to give her the words as she speaks. Her work has been published in local, regional and international anthologies, including The Caribbean Writer, BIM, Arts for the 21st Century, Inner Child Press, and the St Mary Literary Festival 2024 Anthology.

Garvey first became interested in spoken word poetry in the summer of 2008, when she attended her first poetry slam. By the end of that year, she joined the local poetry scene through performances on the open mic, and as a featured poet at gatherings such as Seh Sup’m Poetry, Red Bones Monthly Poetry Night, and Still Waters, Jamaica’s premier Christian poetry and live music event. In addition to these shows, she has performed at numerous church concerts, events, and on various radio and television programmes.