JAMILA WOODS is a poet, singer, playwright, and teaching artist from Chicago, IL. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poetry has been published in a variety of journals, including MUZZLE and Radius. Jamila was named Best Female Poet (CUPSI) in 2009, and is the two-time winner of the Louder Than A Bomb College Slam (2008 & 2010). She is a founding member of Young Chicago Author’s Teaching Artist Corps, where she teaches poetry writing & performance at high schools throughout Chicagoland. Her first chapbook was released in 2012 by New School Poetics Press.

Jamila’s theatre creds include dramaturgy work on By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at the Goodman Theatre (May 2013) and assistant directing Tartuffe at the Court Theatre (June 2013). Her first full length play entitled All Who Have Sinned was produced at Brown University’s Black Lavender Festival in 2012.

In 2011, Jamila became the frontwoman of soul-duo band Milo&Otis. Their first album The Joy, was hailed as “mold-shattering” by the Washington Post, and is available for online listening at hellomiloandotis.bandcamp.com.

Photo © Laurie&Charles Photography // Header Art © Anna Kornick