JBT

JBT is a writer, educator, performer, and poet based in Washington, DC. Sharing his work at schools, theaters, and venues around the world, he has performed in Cape Town, Boston, London, New York City, Pretoria, Stockholm, Seattle, and at the Kennedy Center and the South African State Theater. Committed to empowering the next generation of artists and activists, for over 18 years he has been teaching and mentoring young people, creating outstanding opportunities for poets around the world.

__ __ __

On this site you can find more information about JBT’s journey, projects, writings, and book him for a visit to your school or company.

JBT speaking at the Kennedy Center in 2016
JBT speaking at the Kennedy Center in 2016

. . .

Detailed Bio:

Jonathan B. Tucker (JBT) is a poet, educator, performer, photographer, and DJ. He has received numerous grants, awards, and artist fellowships from institutions such as the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, and has performed and taught at universities, libraries, detention centers, and museums around the world. His poems have appeared in Howard University’s Amistad Journal alongside the late Amiri Baraka (Howard University, 2011), in Etan Thomas’s anthology Voices of the Future (Haymarket Books, 2012), Poets’ America (Hidden Clearing Books, 2014), and Beltway Poetry Quarterly (Beltway Poetry, 2016).

JBT has been working with young people for over a decade, using his passion for social justice movements, creative writing, performance, and community organizing to motivate and inspire hundreds of students. Formerly the Program Instructor for Operation Understanding DC, a cross-cultural, leadership development program for Black and Jewish high school students, Jonathan is a trained facilitator and has led numerous trips studying the Civil Rights Movement. Born in Washington, DC and raised in Crofton, MD by two career educators, JBT has been an anti-war and human rights activist since 2002 when he joined Boston Mobilization while studying at Boston University. Leading workshops in local high schools on racism, sexism, and the military industrial complex, Boston Mobilization was JBT’s introduction to the nonprofit world of youth programs. At the University of Maryland, College Park, he co-founded TerPoets, a poetry and spoken word student group that hosts open mics and books touring poets for large shows on campus. TerPoets is part of the Jimenez-Porter’s Writers’ House, a living/learning program at UMD, and is still running strong to this day. He graduated cum laude with honors and two bachelor’s degrees (Sociology and Political Science) and was selected to deliver the commencement speech for the college of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

In 2013, 2015, and 2016 JBT won Sister Cities International Arts Grants to bring young poets from Washington, DC to the city of Tshwane, South Africa for poetry and social justice tours of the historic capital city. He performed with his students at the South African State Theatre and led workshops in local townships. In 2012 he was a featured speaker at Lund University in Sweden, and in 2013 he brought two students to Sweden to feature at the Streetposia Conference sponsored by the Lund Center for Middle East Studies. In 2014 JBT was hired as a consultant for the YoungArts Foundation to help coach the United States Presidential Scholars in the Arts awards recipients. He has led workshops and spoken on panels at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) national conference, The Limmud Jewish Learning Festival, The Split This Rock Poetry Festival, and numerous universities across the country and world.

JBT regularly hosts open mics, slams, and other arts events. He is one of the poetry hosts for Busboys and Poets, where he revitalized and popularized the monthly Youth Open Mic Series. He hosts the open mic night at Busboys and Poets 5th & K on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.

As a performance poet he has featured in London, U.K., Stockholm and Malmö, Sweden, Johannesburg and Tshwane, South Africa, and all over the U.S. He has shared stages with champion poets like Saul Williams, Gayle Danley, Anis Mojgani, Ed Mabrey, Elizabeth Acevedo, Clint Smith, Pages Matam, Sonya Renee, the legendary Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets, American Indian Movement activist and poet John Trudell, politically charged, radical hip-hop emcee Immortal Technique, Palestinian poet and activist Rafeef Ziadah, and several HBO Def Poetry Jam features, including Suheir Hammad, Regie Cabico, Kevin Coval, Black Picasso of the Poem-cees, Carlos Andrés Gómez and Sarah Kay.

IMG_2634

 

Stay up with JBT:


instagram   transparent-facebook-logo-icon

JBT red sweater poet

Who I Am Not

I am not Jonathan M. Tucker, the actor. He is a great guy. We know each other and have a friendly battle for googleability based on our shared name. We are not the same person though, as you can see from this picture of two Jonathan Tuckers (i’m the one on the right. the TV and movie star JT is on the left).

JonathanTuckers

I am also not the inspiration for the movie John Tucker Must Die. It was a terrible, formulaic, teenie-bopper flick with Ashante in it. I wrote a poem called Jon Tucker Must Live. It’s better than the movie.

I’m also not the type of person who will tolerate hate speech. Don’t bring your -isms here. We will call it out. We will dismantle it.

DC SCORES blog about me here

jbtslamfinals

i’ve brought my poetry to many people and places. here are a few:

and conducted workshops for:

and been mentioned in: