Kevin Powell is widely considered one of America’s leading political and cultural voices in these early years of the 21st century. An acclaimed community activist and award-winning writer, Powell was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is the product of a single mother-led household, extreme poverty, fatherlessness, and violence. In spite of these harsh circumstances, Powell studied at Rutgers University in New Jersey and he has become one of the most prolific and respected writers and voices of his generation. He is the author or editor of 10 books, including his most recent, Open Letters to America, a collection of essays that examine American leadership, politics, and social issues like gender violence and equality for women. Additionally, Powell’s writings have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, Newsweek, Essence, Ebony, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Vibe, where he was a senior writer for several years documenting, most famously, the life and times of the late Tupac Shakur. Kevin’s next two books will be Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and The Ghost of Dr. King: Blogs and Essays (Fall 2011), and The Education of Kevin Powell (Fall 2012), an autobiography of his childhood and youth. As an activist, Powell has worked on a range of concerns, including voter registration, Hurricane Katrina relief, education, the environment, eradicating poverty, and supply and resource support for post-earthquake Haiti. As an extension of his activism work, Powell also routinely does college, corporate, and community lectures across America and internationally, and he is a frequent presence on television and radio offering his commentary on a variety of issues, including on the Oprah Show where he was a part of the national conversation on domestic violence and how men can help to end the assault on women and girls. Powell is not only a writer and activist, but also a business owner, and he has a particularly keen interest, these days, in education reform, job training and job creation, community development, and incubating small and medium-sized American businesses. Finally, a long-time and proud resident of Brooklyn, New York, Kevin Powell was a 2010 Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn.

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