poet:

AVAILABLE NOW:
Four full length books of poetry
by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz!
Including her latest, Oh, Terrible Youth!

Cristin is now booking for 2009!
If you are interested in bringing Cristin to your college, performance space or festival,
please inquire about her availability at bookings@aptowicz.com!

For the latest in Cristin news and gigs, click here.


LISTEN to Cristin performing some of her best known poems by clicking on the title of the poem:
"Lit" from Dear Future Boyfriend
"Mother" from Dear Future Boyfriend
"Things I'd Leave Behind" from Working Class Represent
"Estephania" from Oh, Terrible Youth

Or WATCH Cristin perform
"Crack Squirrels" (a brand-spanking new poem!),
"Write a Poem about Monsters" OR "Notes on Rejection(s)",
both from Oh, Terrible Youth,
"All I'd Leave Behind" from Working Class Represent
or "To Whom It May Concern" from Hot Teen Slut
(NOTE: The first two are YouTube videos filmed by Jeffrey Kay from a 2008 performance at Brown University, and the last one is included in an almost finished short by Aaron Myers, which you'll need Real Player to watch!)


Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is the author of four books of poetry, most recently, Oh, Terrible Youth. She is the founder of the three-time National Poetry Slam Championship venue, NYC-Urbana, and recently authored Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam (Soft Skull Press).

When Cristin was just 19, she founded the NYC Urbana Reading Series and Poetry -- which is still going strong in its 12th year -- making her the youngest Slammaster in the nation. The series ran at CBGBs for several year before finding its permanent home at the Bowery Poetry Club.

Her poetry has appeared (or is forthcoming) in McSweeney's Internet Tendencies, MonkeyBicycle, Pank, Barrelhouse and decomP (among others), as well as in anthologies such as Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Spoken Word, Herding Kites: 10 Years of the National Young Writer Festival, The Last American Valentine, The Good Things About America and Word Warrior (among others).

She is an experience touring poet, both nationalls and internationally. Fall 2003 saw Cristin back in Australia, when she worked with the Sydney Opera House on a scripted poetry show that will premiered in association with the noise Festival, a biannual festival dedicated to showcasing work from Australian artists under the age of 25. The show, "Mouth Off!!" was created by Cristin and directed by Australian hip hop guru, Morganics, in the span of 3 weeks using the work of 6 Australian poet between the ages of 20 - 25: Steven Smart, Eytan Messiah, Brad Armstrong, Evelyn Tandros, Amy Rhoades and Jesta Sec. The show had a weeklong run at the Sydney Opera House's Studio Theatre. In addition to her time in Sydney, Cristin performed at the National Young Writers Festival in Newcastle, Australia as well as spent a week in Melbourne, Australia at one of her favorite international houses o' art, the Gasworks Art Complex.

For more information on Melbourne poetry, please click here. For more information on the lively Australian Poetry Slam Scene, please click here.

For more information on the gigs and her schedule of performances, please see here.

Cristin also has an open policy about other people performing her work. Used in high school and college-age forensics competitions, Cristin's poetry has also won many state-wide and national forensics titles.

All of Cristin's book are available for purchase at via the Wordsmith Press Website, found here.