Chinaka Hodge, is a writer and spoken word artist. Originally from Oakland, California, Chinaka graduated from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in May of 2006. She was the San Francisco Bay Area Teen Poetry Slam Champion in 2001, and a member of team Berkeley/Oakland, winners of the (inter)National Teen Poetry Slam and Festival in 2000. She published her spoken word chapbook, Know These Limbs, in Fall 2002. She received co-writing credit for the stage production: Scourge, sponsored, in part, by the Creative Work Fund, which opened in May 2005, in San Francisco. Chinaka was also a recipient of Dave Eggers’ 826Valencia young author scholarship. Sample publications include the McSweeney’s sponsored anthology, My Words Consume Me, and Newsweek Magazine. Her work has also been featured in Teen People Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle,The Oakland Tribune, Scholastic Magazine, Current Magazine, The Annual Women of Color Film Festival, PBS, NPR, C-Span, KPFA and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam.
