Stir the Style: Wasn't Expecting That....

The Artist Anubis is a spoken word poet, cultural curator, and community cultivator. In 2012, he founded Harlem Bomb Shelter, a spoken-word and literary arts organization that presents open mics, showcases, workshops, teen programs, and mentorship. Harlem Bomb Shelter has been recognized as the 2025 Creatives & Civilians "Local Legend" for their impact on the community.

A member of the historic Harlem Writers Guild, Anubis authored “My People Burn and Other Visions,” a poetry anthology in 2021. He is an accomplished Off-Broadway producer, having written and directed “What Would You Do? A Poetry Play” in 2017 and a 2024 run of his one-man show “BROKEN MIRROR: A Poetic Mosaic of a Broken Mind,” which was nominated for two AUDELCO Awards, including Best Solo Performance.

Anubis concentrates the sum of his experiences, inspirations, and pantry of poems into metrical mosaics of the human journey from vulnerability to victory in hopes that the shards of his broken mirror may reflect healing onto cracked hearts living in a shattered world.

Returning to the International Festival of Art and Ideas, is Carol Birch whose storytelling style revitalizes language. Her art is an absence of artifice, and her stories offer memories worth keeping – even the funny ones!

Since Birch began performing in 1971, she’s received two National Endowment for the Humanities grants to develop a storytelling program for television; toured nationwide with multiple appearances at the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee, as well as invitational performances in Australia, Europe, and Singapore. She received an Oracle Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network. Her two books Who Says? and The Whole Story Handbook, along with her eight recordings have earned multiple awards. Under her direction, eight other storyteller’s recordings received awards.

Birch taught storytelling on both coasts, including University of Southern California, UCLA, Wesleyan (CT) and Southern Ct Universities, and led five storytelling tours through Ireland, Scotland, and England. Media appearances include ABC's Nightline, CBS' Morning Show and National Public Radio. “[Her] voice is a magnet for ears and the tales she tells make the heart beat with a little more confidence … a warm and enchanting style.”  –NUVO Weekly

www.carolbirchstoryteller.com

Jezrie’s stories are thoughtful adventures, traversing the universality of the human experience. Through the triumphs and trials of being AfroLatinx, she highlights complexities of being part of the Black diaspora drawing from her coming of age. Jezrie writes and performs for Ubuntu (OO-BOON-TOO) Storytellers. She has performed for Stories From The Stage, Saul Fussiner’s Songs and Stories, Story City at The Buttonwood Tree, The New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Storyteller’s New Haven, The MOuTH-Off with Chion (Ki-own) Wolf and, Tellabration! In New Haven and South Windsor, CT. She has also produced Tellabration! New Haven at The New Haven Pride Center, and Speak?Easy., a live themed storytelling event.

Lara Herscovitch is a singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem. As described in The Boston Globe, she brings “a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit or a dormant creative life.” Lara leads with authenticity, integrity, humor and heart. Sound Waves Magazine described her music as “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best… good for your ears AND your soul.” Acoustic Live in New York City added, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect... It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.” LaraHerscovitch.com

Wendy is a lifelong story lover and listener, a shorter time storyteller, who has told at venues across CT, and braved the not-for-the-faint hearted Moth Slams in NY. She’s a quilter, a new west coast swing dance enthusiast, and a late-to-the-game cellist who by day works with kids as a pediatric speech pathologist, helping children to find their voices and tell their stories. Wendy believes that stories can be a gateway to friendship, understanding, and healing, an opportunity to view the world through someone else’s eyes.