In Conversation with Poet/Writer: Roya Marsh

The Nancy Ruffin Show

This week Nancy talks with nationally recognized poet, performer, educator and activist, Roya Marsh. Roya who is a Bronx, New York native, is the Poet in Residence at Urban Word NYC and works feverishly toward LGBTQIA justice and dismantling white supremacy.

In this week's episode, Roya discusses her debut book, dayliGht, how the project was born and how she almost went to blows with a man in her graduate program. In the hour long conversation, she shares why much of her work focuses on centering women, masculine-of-center women, butch women much like herself; she discusses her career as poet/performer, her work as an educator, how she's had to pivot due to the pandemic, and how she has used her trauma to triumph and heal.

Trigger warning: The themes of sexual abuse, molestation, & suicide are discussed in this episode.

About Roya:

Roya’s work has been featured in Poetry Magazine, Flypaper Magazine, Frontier Poetry, the Village Voice, Nylon Magazine, Huffington Post, The Root, Button Poetry, Def Jam’s All Def Digital, Lexus Verses and Flow, NBC, BET and The BreakBeat Poets Vol 2: Black Girl Magic(Haymarket 2018).

In Spring 2020, MCD × FSG Originals published Roya Marsh’s dayliGht, a debut collection of experimental poetry exploring themes of sexuality, Blackness, and the prematurity of Black femme death—all through an intersectional feminist lens with a focus on the resilience of the Black woman.

You can connect with Roya on her social media platforms:

Instagram: @ChampagnePoet

Facebook: Roya Marsh

www.blkjoy.com

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