This week we recognize Daniel Letona @Doktordan10 for his amazing victory at the Nuyorican Bowery Slam! Daniel is a mainstay at our events who is constantly providing his time, energy, and awesome vibes to the spoken word community. As a result, Daniel not only regularly elevates his awesome poetry but also his fellow poets!

Daniel’s poetry is a deep dive on the issues of immigration and ostracization in America. These themes resonate strongly with current events and the crowds at our events, making him a favorite poet of many audience members. We hope to see him at our January Final Friday Slam and hope he can continue to ascend to greater heights with his phenomenal art!

Swing Daniel a follow at @Doktordan10 and show him the same love he shows the poetry community every day!

Big shouts out to Avé Maria who secured her first Nuyorican Bowery Slam win of the 2026 Slam Season at a competition that nearly ended in a dead heat! At the end of the night, the top 5 had a bare 0.4 difference in scores between Avé Maria’s winning score and the fifth place winner. 

Though the show was extremely competitive, she was able to secure the top spot of the night with her amazing mastery of spoken word using poems that highlight her femininity in equal parts with her trauma, creating compelling literary concoctions that sent craters through the crowd. 

We are so glad to have Avé Maria as an invited participant at our January Final Friday Slam and wish her all the best at our future competitions! Please show her some love by swinging her follows @author.avemaria on Instagram.

Our first Nuyorican Bowery Slam of 2026 went off with a BANG! Court took the victory after two three-way ties, forcing the crowd to vote for the night’s winner with applause. Slam poetry is a delicate science, but the amount of talent on Monday’s lineup made it just about impossible for the Judges to decide the night’s winner, yet Court still took the win! 

Court’s shocking poetry brought the spotlight to themes that we usually let stay unsaid, which is a strategy that can go wrong if it rubs the crowd the wrong way. However,she manages not only to perfectly execute her poem, but also brings the crowd together to root for her in the end. After seeing her performance this Monday, it’s easy to see why she’s one of the best poets in NYC.

We’re so proud of Court’s win and are excited to see her at this month’s Final Friday Slam taking place off-Broadway on January 30th at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Please give Court her due credit and follow her at @through.cs.lens in order to keep up with her phenomenal rise!

Marcus Stokes is the 2025 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion! In a year full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and everything in between; Marcus has managed to overcome all obstacles and climb his way to the top of NYC’s Slam ladder! 

If you missed out on Marcus’s ascension, here are a few details; Marcus performed both old and new pieces, all of which demonstrate his tried and true poetic style of pointing out accepted inconsistencies and hypocrisies we accept as normal in our society. Add in his signature assertive and rhythmic diction, which masterfully entrances the crowd with wordplay and double entendre, and you’ll be left cheering him on just as the crowd did on December 26th!

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is so glad to be a part of Marcus’s journey as he achieves his artistic dreams and we look forward to seeing him kill it as a member of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe National Slam Team! We send a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS to our new Grand Slam Champion! You’ve officially entered the realm of legends! Now the sky is the limit!

Get in the know about the 2025 Nuyorican Grand Slam by checking out his IG @_marcus_stokes !

Jayden killed it at this week’s Nuyorican Bowery Slam! His efforts in elevating his spoken word throughout the year have also been paying off because he convincingly won this Monday’s competition! Jayden’s work is great because it mixes issues of current events with recognizable tempos and political messages that resonate strongly with young crowds. At just the right moment, he delivers the dagger that subverts or deepens his original theme and leaves the audience aghast!

Please give your support to Jayden and follow him on the ‘gram’ @jaydenantwine and give him the support and congratulations he deserves for his amazing work! 

We happily welcome Jada Imani to our 2026 Nuyorican Bowery Slam Winner’s Circle! It may seem like a wild claim, but the Nuyorican Poets Cafe truly has one of the most extensive communities of Spoken Word Poets in the world because poets like Jada are constantly showing up and bringing their talents to bear at our events! 

Jada’s poems are beautifully latticed tapestries that create deeply resonant themes tied to motherhood! Most importantly, her emotive style communicates the depth of meaning and painstaking investment she puts in every poem. It is through these masteries of the craft that Jada was able to get the win at this week’s Nuyorican Bowery Slam!

Please give your support to Jada by following her on Instagram @jada_didit and show some love for her amazing work! Thank you Jada, we hope to see you at more of our events in the future.

Habib Bello has taken the win at the second Nuyorican Bowery Slam of the 2026 Slam Season! Habib’s work has taken the spoken word scene by storm with signature flows that differentiates strongly between poems. Whether it’s solemn contemplations on family, or more lighthearted takes that incorporate humor and philosophy, Habib is beloved by all of our audiences!

Congratulations Habib! We hope to see you at our January Final Friday Slam. If you’d like to support him, give him a follow at @habibbello_ to keep up with this awesome poet!

Marcus is starting our 2026 Grand Slam Season off right! This week’s win comes in preparation for the Slam at the end of this month! Since the 2025 slam season is Dec ‘24 - Nov ‘25, his Nuyorican Bowery Slam win counts on the scorecards for next year’s standings! 

His work resonates deeply with our slam crowd because Marcus’s masterful flow and deep insight pair beautifully to make amazing spoken word! Crowds love his ability to draw out the inherent hypocrisy in things that we accept as normal, all while speaking to the crowd like a friend who’s making an emphatic point!

We want to give every shout out to @_marcus_stokes for his amazing performance at our slam, and hope to see him at future Nuyorican Poets Cafe events. Give him a follow and congratulate him for his amazing talent!