EnglishSteven Willis

I’m a storyteller born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. As a writer and performer, I blend hip-hop, poetry, theater, and political theory to explore and express African American culture.

As an educator, I use the creative process as a tool to textual analysis while empowering students to not just be critics of culture but creatives. I’m a three-time Individual World Poetry Slam finalist, and many students have called me “googleable.”

I earned my MFA in Acting from the University of Iowa in 2021 and completed the Iowa Writers’ Workshop for Poetry in 2023. My debut poetry collection, A Peculiar People, was published by Button Poetry in 2022.