TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai takes a few moments to speak with talented spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai about her life and work as a full-time poet. She’s been one of our favorite folks to follow over the years, and in the past we’ve pointed out her frequent touring schedule across the nation as well as her co-productions with filmmaker Karen Lin.
This interview takes place during the 2011 North American Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) National Conference, which was held in St. Louis, MO where she was an invited speaker and performer.
Kelly has been featured in over 450 performances worldwide at venues including the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the House of Blues, the Apollo Theater, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and three seasons of the award-winning “Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry.” The author of Inside Outside Outside Inside (2004), Thought Crimes (2005), No Sugar Please (2008), and the CD’s Infinity Breaks (2007) and Further She Wrote (2010), Tsai has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Amiri Baraka, Harry Belafonte, and many more.
To learn more about Kelly, or to see her upcoming performance schedule, visit: http://yellowgurl.com
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