JAMILA WOODS is a performing poet, playwright and teaching artist who sings in elevators and talks to birds in public. As a seasoned poetry slammer, Jamila has competed in several collegiate and national competitions, most recently repping Team Providence on finals stage at the 2011 National Poetry Slam in Boston, MA. She is the reigning champion of Chicago’s Louder Than A Bomb College slam, and was also awarded the title of “Best Female Poet” at CUPSI in 2009.  Apart from slam, Jamila is a recurring featured poet in Chicago’s Encyclopedia Show, and has written several veracious poems on topics such as bears, robots, and invasive species. Her first book of poetry, entitled The Truth About Dolls is due out on New School Poetics Press in 2012.

As a playwright, Jamila enjoys eavesdropping on strangers’ subway conversations and transcribing them on the backs of napkins and newspapers for inspiration. Although relatively new to playwriting, she has been passionate about theatre from a young age and is looking forward to the staging of her first two plays this Spring: the Shark at Victory Gardens Theater as a part of the Louder Than A Bomb Poetry Festival, and All Who Have Sinned at Rites and Reason Theatre as a part of Brown University’s Black Lavender Festival in April.

In addition to writing for the stage and spitting the hot fire, Jamila works as a teaching artist in order to surround herself with aspiring writers who are younger and much smarter than she is. She has led poetry writing workshops for youth at schools and youth centers including D’Abate elementary school, New Urban Arts, Ridge Academy, and Young Chicago Authors.