Regie Gibson

Poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, and educator Regie Gibson has performed, taught, and lectured at schools, universities, theaters and various other venues on two continents and in seven countries. Most recently in Havana Cuba. Regie and his work appear in the New Line Cinema film love jones, based largely on events in his life. The poem entitled "Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina)" appears on the movie soundtrack and is performed by the film's star, Larenz Tate. Regie performed "Hey Nappyhead" in the film with world-renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El Zabar, composer of the score for the musical The Lion King.

Regie has performed at: The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Cultural Center, Elgin Symphony Orchestra Hall with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall with the members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Day of Art Festival, Chicago1s Steppenwolf Theater1s award-winning Traffic Series with David Amram (Composed music & collaborated with Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg.),Harvard Universities Longfellow Hall for the Cambridge Poetry Festival, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.

Regie has personally worked with artists such as: Gwendolyn Brooks, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Roy Ayers, Fareed Haque, Kurt Vonnegut, members of the world famous AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), Mos Def (Hip Hop artist), and many more. He has taught, lectured and facilitated workshops for: the Cambridge Poetry Festival at Harvard University, the Poetry Center of the Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Black Writers Guild, Inside Out of Detroit, MI, University of Chicago Lab School, Northwestern University, etc….

Regie is the 1998 National Poetry Slam Individual Champion, was selected one of Chicago Tribune's Artist of the Year for Excellence (1998) for his poetry, will co-judge the Chicago Sun-Times 2001 Poetry Competition with Marc Smith (Creator of the international (Poetry Slam phenomenon.) and Mark Strand (University of Chicago professor & 1999 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry), and is regularly featured on National Public Radio.

In 1999 Regie founded the Church of The Funky Word, a literary and musical arts ensemble utilizing ancient, contemporary and original literary text combined with world music and rituals from various world cultures.

Regie is widely published in anthologies, magazines and journals, such as Power Lines, An Anthology of Poetry along with three Pulitzer-Prize winning poets Gwendolyn Brooks, Yosef Komunyakaa, and Lisel Mueller, his first full-length book of poetry Storms Beneath The Skin (EM Press) was released in 2001.