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Kevin Coval

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Kevin Coval
Born
Kevin Coval
NationalityAmerican
EducationGlenbrook North High School
Occupation(s)Poet, playwright, writer
Kevin Coval (with cap) at the Kalamazoo Public Library.

Kevin Coval is an American poet. Coval is a Chicago-based writer who is known for exploring topics such as race, hip-hop culture, Chicago history, and Jewish-American identity in his work.[1][2][3] He is also known for his appearances in four seasons of the Peabody Award-winning television series Def Poetry Jam on HBO.[4][5][6]

Education

[edit]

Coval attended Glenbrook North High School, graduating in 1993.[7] After high school, Coval attended Ohio University, briefly studying abroad at Swansea University before he left school to play semi-pro basketball in Wales.[8]

Career

[edit]

In 1996, Coval returned to Chicago and began working different jobs to pay rent, including as a furniture delivery man, caterer, and waiter. He also began performing his poetry at open mics around the city.[8]

In 1997, Coval became a regular at open mics at the Alt-X bookstore.[8] He went on to perform at venues such as Mad Bar, Estelle’s, and the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge.[7]

Coval was named artistic director of Young Chicago Authors, an organization that sends professional writers to schools to teach, in 1999.[9]

In 2001, Coval co-founded the youth performance-poetry competition Louder Than a Bomb with Anna West. By 2017, the competition was considered the largest youth performance-poetry competition in the world.[9]

Coval also appeared in an episode of the HBO series Def Poetry Jam that was broadcast in January 2002, in which he performed his poem “Family Feud.”[7] After the first airing of the episode, Coval was contacted by an agent and went on a college tour, becoming a full-time professional poet.[7] He went on to appear in three more episodes of the series and eventually served as one of the show’s creative consultants, scouting for local poets to appear on the show.[7]

Coval was interviewed by Trevor Noah on an episode of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah that aired in 2017.[10]

Coval co-wrote the play This Is Modern Art, which premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults in Chicago in February 2015.[11] The play was also performed off-Broadway at the Fourth Street Theater in Manhattan in 2018.[12]

Coval produced the segment “Word on the Street” for the local talk show Windy CIty Live, which was nominated for a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award in 2020.[13]

Coval was removed from his position as artistic director at Young Chicago Authors in 2021[14][15]

Coval has written for publications such as CNN,[16] Rock the Bells,[17] Slam,[18] Sarasota Magazine,[19] and Interfaith America Magazine.[20]

Poetry

[edit]

Coval published his first poetry book, Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica, in 2002.[7] Slingshots is a semi-autobiographical poetic memoir.[21]

His second poetry book, Everyday People, was published in 2008.[7]

Coval released the poetic novella L-Vis Lives! RaceMusic Poems in 2011.[22][23] The poems in the book form a narrative about a character named “L-Vis,” and examine race, music, and the appropriation of hip-hop culture, while referencing figures such as Elvis Presley, Eminem, and Rick Rubin.[22][24]

Coval published the poetry collection Schtick in 2013.[25] Schtick centered around themes of Jewish identity.[25][26]

Coval served as one of the editors of the poetry anthology The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, which was published in 2015.[27][28][29]

His 2017 collection A People's History of Chicago, whose title is inspired by Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, comments in 77 poems, one for each neighborhood in Chicago, on the city, its history, and the people that live in it, from its Native American beginnings and its appropriation by whites to the present day, the inauguration of Rahm Emanuel and the World Series win by the Chicago Cubs.[30][31][32] Along the way he comments on Robert de LaSalle's mispronunciation of the Native American word "checagou", which he bastardizes with his "misshapen mouth", erasing its original history.[5] A People’s History of Chicago was a finalist for the 2017 Chicago Review of Books Award for Poetry.[33][10]

In 2019, Coval published the poetry collection Everything Must Go: Life and Death of an American Neighborhood, which examined the topic of gentrification in Wicker Park, Chicago and featured illustrations from Langston Allston.[34][35] The collection was a finalist for the 2019 Chicago Review of Books Award for Poetry.[36]

Coval edited the poetry anthology The End of Chiraq: A Literary Mixtape, which was published in 2018.[37]

Coval has also published poems in several anthologies, including Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic,[38] Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop,[39] The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip-Hop, & the Poetry of a New Generation,[40] and The Spoken Word Revolution Redux.[41] 

Awards

[edit]
  • 2015 Lannan Foundation Marfa Writers Residency[42]
  • 2017 John Peter Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award[43]
  • 2018 Studs Terkel Award[44]
  • 2018 Webby Nom for Best Music Documentary for Red Bull's "This and Nothing Else"[45]
  • 2019 Gwendolyn Brooks Award[46]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Poet Kevin Coval's 'A People's History of Chicago' Hits Rahm Emanuel Hard, In Verse". The Forward. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  2. ^ "Sifting Through Assimilation's Wreckage to Offer Jews Redirection - Tikkun". www.tikkun.org. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  3. ^ "Kevin Coval: L-Vis Lives!". great weather for MEDIA. 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  4. ^ "L-vis Lives Live! Kevin Coval Book Release Party". WBEZ Chicago. 2011-08-17. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  5. ^ a b Gyarkye, Lovia (April 20, 2017). "A Poet's History of Chicago: Kevin Coval's new collection creates community through history". The New Republic. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  6. ^ Fragassi, Selena (March 26, 2017). "Kevin Coval book, mission reveals 'People's History of Chicago'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g "The Bomb Dropper: Kevin Coval's unlikely journey from popular suburban jock to iconoclastic def poet | Newcity Lit". 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  8. ^ a b c "What the White Boy Wants". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  9. ^ a b Galil, Leor (2017-04-13). "A people's history of Kevin Coval". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  10. ^ a b Morgan, Adam (2017-10-03). "The Poetry Shortlist for the 2017 Chicago Review of Books Awards". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  11. ^ "AMERICAN THEATRE | Steppenwolf's 'This Is Modern Art' Tagged With Controversy". 2018-06-09. Archived from the original on 2018-06-09. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  12. ^ "Review: In 'This Is Modern Art,' Say It and Spray It - The New York Times". The New York Times. 2018-06-09. Archived from the original on 2018-06-09. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  13. ^ "2020 Emmy® Nominees & Winners". NATAS Chicago/Midwest. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  14. ^ Kenney, Madeline (2021-03-04). "Young Chicago Authors leadership shake-up: Artistic director out, executive director quits". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  15. ^ Kenney, Madeline (2021-03-05). "CPS suspends partnership with Young Chicago Authors after group accused of doing little about sexual assault allegations". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  16. ^ Coval, Kevin (2014-04-02). "Rahm Emanuel's Chicago, a tale of two cities". CNN. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  17. ^ "KEVIN COVAL". Rock The Bells. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  18. ^ "Kevin Coval, Author at SLAM". SLAM. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  19. ^ "Kevin Coval". Sarasota Magazine. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  20. ^ Vroegop, Allie (2023-08-29). "POEM: faith in democracy". Interfaith America. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  21. ^ Daily, Patrick (2006-02-23). "Speak, Poetry". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  22. ^ a b "Kevin Coval: L-Vis Lives!". great weather for MEDIA. 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  23. ^ "Coval Review". MUZZLE MAGAZINE. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  24. ^ "We are all L-Vis". SocialistWorker.org. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  25. ^ a b "Sifting Through Assimilation's Wreckage to Offer Jews Redirection - Tikkun". www.tikkun.org. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  26. ^ "Kevin Coval's 'Schtick' – A take-no-prisoners Jewish classic". Mondoweiss. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  27. ^ "Review of The BreakBeat Poets". www.forewordreviews.com. 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  28. ^ "Hip-Hop Culture in the Spotlight: A Review of The BreakBeat Poets | National Book Review Month". Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  29. ^ Billet, Alex. "The new planet rock | International Socialist Review". isreview.org. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  30. ^ Kass, Jeff (2017-08-01). "Kevin Coval's A People's History of Chicago - Current Magazine". Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  31. ^ "Poet Kevin Coval's 'A People's History of Chicago' Hits Rahm Emanuel Hard, In Verse". The Forward. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  32. ^ Galil, Leor (2017-04-13). "A people's history of Kevin Coval". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  33. ^ "UPK Poetry Collection Named Award Finalist". UKNow. 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  34. ^ Alani, Hannah (2019-09-09). "Kevin Coval's Latest Book, 'Everything Must Go,' Explores Gentrification In Wicker Park". Block Club Chicago. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  35. ^ "'Everything Must Go' Investigates Gentrification through Poetry, Illustrations". WTTW News. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  36. ^ "The Poetry Shortlist for the 2019 Chicago Review of Books Award". Chicago Review of Books. 2019-10-14. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  37. ^ "Reclaiming the City: A Review of "The End of Chiraq" | Newcity Lit". 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  38. ^ Dyson, Michael Eric; Daulatzai, Sohail (2010). Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00211-5.
  39. ^ Chang, Jeff (2006). Total chaos : the art and aesthetics of hip-hop. Internet Archive. New York : BasicCivitas Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00909-1.
  40. ^ Eleveld, Mark; Smith, Marc (2005-02-15). The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip-hop & the Poetry of a New Generation. Sourcebooks MediaFusion. ISBN 978-1-4022-0246-9.
  41. ^ Eleveld, Mark (2007). The Spoken Word Revolution Redux. Sourcebooks MediaFusion. ISBN 978-1-4022-0869-0.
  42. ^ "Kevin Coval". Lannan Foundation. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  43. ^ "Annual Festival Celebrates Free Speech — And Chicago's 'King Of The Hobos'". The Forward. 2017-07-27. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  44. ^ "Awards". Public Narrative. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  45. ^ "THIS AND NOTHING ELSE: CHICAGO". THE MARCS STUDIOS / VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  46. ^ "Kevin Coval | Wisconsin Book Festival". www.wisconsinbookfestival.org. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
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