Biography
Short Bio:
KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based, Chinese Taiwanese American spoken word artist who has featured at over 275 performances worldwide including three seasons of HBO’s award-winning “Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry.” Current projects include her recently released CD “Infinity Breaks” and her solo show “The Grieving Room.” For more info, www.yellowgurl.com, www.myspace.com/yellowgurl_poetry.
Long Bio:
“Experience one of her performances and you will understand that fierce artists do not need to scream to be heard… that the world matters too much to let things just slip by…” Anida Esguerra (www.atomicshogun.com)
KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI is a Chinese Taiwanese American spoken word artist, playwright, essayist, and choreographer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She has been featured at over 275 performances across the United States, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, and Kenya including over 40 colleges and universities and notable venues like the Nuyorican Poets Café, House of Blues, Apollo Theater in Harlem, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and three seasons of the award-winning “Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry.”
She has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, DMX, Michael Eric Dyson, Suheir Hammad, Wyclef Jean, Tracy Morgan, Amiri Baraka, Kenny Lattimore & Chante Moore and many more.
Born and raised in the Chicago area, Kelly got an early taste of the Chicago poetry slam scene as a high school student and went on to flex her skills as a founding member of Sirenz (a women of color spoken word crew that wove together stories of the Asian, Black, and Latina diasporas). As a teenager, she also wrote regularly for the Chicago Tribune and appeared weekly as a teen movie critic on PBS’ nationally televised “Sneak Previews.” Her formative experiences as a community organizer, domestic violence counselor, oral historian, and youth worker ground her commitment to social justice, non-violence, and the uplift of youth voices through the arts.
She has been involved in numerous arts organizing efforts including Women Outloud, the Asian American Artists Collective Chicago, Young Asians with Power (YAWP), No Thanks!giving, and the 2nd National Asian Pacific Islander American Spoken Word Summit. She has also hosted the National Poetry Slam Asian American Showcase, Chicago’s Louder Than A Bomb Teen Poetry Festival, and Brave New Voices National Teen Poetry Slam.
She was a long-time collaborator with both Mango Tribe (Asian Pacific Islander American women’s multidisciplinary theater collective) and We Got Issues! (art-based civic transformation project based on feminine-center leadership) and toured nationally with both companies for multiple years. She acted as choreographer and movement coach for both of these companies as well as for Julia Ahumada Grob’s solo show “he(r)evolution.” She also performed as a part of Ping Chong’s “Undesirable Elements: Asian America” for the 1st National Asian American Theater Festival.
Other collaborations include dance and spoken word projects with companies and choreographers like Urban Bush Women, Inspirit, VT Dance, Joanna Norris, Ase Dance Collective, and Malinda Allen. She also worked on a ground-breaking spoken word video with director Karen Lin (ZuZu Films) based on her poem “By-Standing: The Beginning of An American Lifetime,” winner of the War & Peace Award at the 7th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival and Honorable Mention in the Narrative Short category at the 11th Annual Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival.
The video has been screened at the 1st Annual Black Lily Film and Music Festival, the 12th Annual Chicago Asian American Showcase (Foundation for Asian American Independent Media), the 2007 Los Angeles Visual Communications Asian Pacific Film Festival, the 30th Annual New York Asian International Film Festival, the 5th Annual Hip Hop Odyssey International Film Festival, 2007 Asian Film Festival of Dallas, 2007 San Diego Asian American Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, and select venues across the US and Europe.
She has released two self-published chapbooks: Inside Outside Outside Inside (2004) and Thought Crimes (2005), and her debut spoken word album produced by Celena Glenn, “Infinity Breaks” (2006). Her poetry and essays have been featured in: Montage, Monsoon, Asian American Resource Workshop Newsletter, YAWP Summer Reader 2006, Tea Party, The F-Word, The Indypendent, Wicked Alice, AWOL Magazine, Shades Magazine, Versal Amsterdam, The Kartika Review, New York Theater Review, Just Like A Girl: A Manifesta (Girlchild Press), We Got Issues!: A Young Woman’s Guide to A Bold, Courageous, and Empowered Life (Inner Ocean Publishing), We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists (Seal Press/Avalon), His Rib (Penmanship Books), and The Spoken Word Revolution Redux (Sourcebooks, Inc.).
She has been the recipient of awards, grants, and residencies from the Illinois Arts Council, New York Foundation for the Arts Urban Artist Intiative NYC, Poets & Writers, Inc., Norcroft Retreat for Women Writers, and Unit One/Allen Hall. She is an alum and scholarship recipient of the Kundiman Asian American Emerging Poets Retreat and the Voices of Our Nation Foundation Writers of Color Workshop. She was a delegate to both the 6th Women Playwrights International Conference in Manila, Philippines and the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on behalf of the Hip Hop Theater Festival. She was also the youngest poet featured at the first International Conference on Chinese Poetry.
While living, writing, and loving in Brooklyn, she tours the country (and increasingly the world) extensively as a solo spoken word performer. Current projects in addition to her touring schedule include her spoken word/hip hop theater-based solo show, “The Grieving Room,” her ensemble theatrical piece “Murder the Machine” which was excerpted at the 2006 Chicago Hip Hop Theater Festival, upcoming spoken word video collaborations, and her first full-length collection of poems.
More Quotes:
“…Tsai was at once eloquent and intriguing…” - Mary Annaise Hegler, In Solidarity
“Tsai’s poetry [was] beautiful in its simplicity and approachability. [She] projects an undeniable, youthful energy [and] challenged the audience to not only recognize prejudice, but to work to resolve discrimination.” - Emma Weisser, The Bates Student
“Tsai’s message was distinct and heartfelt. This, I think, is the kind of powerful piece that makes [Def Poetry] work.” - Levi Asher, Literary Kicks
“Kelly totally rocks the mic, and stays true to her style…A great writer who can deliver a political message, that will still hold up on paper. Poems that make you think, with lines that will stand out for days.” – Krystal Ashe, Mental Graffiti
“…a bundle of poetic ferocity and joy like you’ve never seen.” - Marty McConnell, louderARTS Project
“Kelly walks the walk, talks the talk and captivates the crowd with her poetic prowess.” Jeanette Johnson-Licon, GLCA Students of Color Conference, DePauw University
“An arresting artist with gravity and sensitivity, Kelly Tsai has demonstrated new turns in the Chicago school of performance poetry throughout her career. She’s trekked from Illinois to New York and back, accumulating new stories and skills along the way…And if you haven’t seen her yet, you’ll remember her for a good long time after her set. Recommended” - Kurt Heintz, E-Poets.net
“Kelly Tsai sweeps clarity into the eye of political storms that have no choice but to disburse. Ms. Tsai makes it plain, does not stutter and is unafraid to drop shield that a vulnerable woman warrior is sometimes compelled to carry. This sister makes you nod in recognition, aching and joy.” –Tara Betts, www.tarabetts.net
“Kelly is a fierce and passionate performer/poet who speaks truth to power. It is an honor to witness the strength, energy, and drive she evokes with her words.” –Diana Lee, Arts Engine, Producer of the Media That Matters Film Festival
“[We] are consistently impressed with Kelly’s awe-inspiring, energetic, and all around amazing work.” — May Lin, Columbia University, Asian Pacific American Awareness Month
“Kelly’s poetry—raw, evocative, insightful—ignites your mind one moment and soothes your soul the next. Spitting out words with fierce lyrical prowess, Kelly challenges us to break free from our passivity to face the truth. She’s a contemporary visionary who is helping to change the world, one poem at a time.” — Celeste Hamilton, Action Without Borders/Idealist.org
“Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai is an amazing lyricist. Her energy and connection with the teen girls was like no other!” — Lisa Rodrigues, Teen Voices