Aja Monet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Aja Monet
Monet in 2017
Born	Aja Monet Bacquie New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Poet writer lyricist activist

Aja Monet Bacquie (pronounced AH-zhə moh-NAY) is an American poet, writer, and activist. She is known for her powerful poems and her work to make communities better. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Early Life and Poetry

Aja Monet started writing poetry when she was just 8 years old. She loved telling stories and was fascinated by typewriters. In high school, at Baruch College Campus High School in Manhattan, she began performing her poems. One time, she wrote a poem for a class that really touched her teacher, who told her to keep writing.

She even won her high school talent show with a poem! Her teachers were so moved, they cried. Aja Monet also started a club called SABA, which stood for Students Acknowledging Black Achievements. She joined an organization called Urban Word NYC, where she learned that poetry could be a real career.

A poet named Mahogany L. Browne invited Aja Monet to a poetry workshop. It was for pregnant teens in Inwood, Manhattan. This showed Aja Monet how poetry could help and empower communities. When she was 17, she went to Brave New Voices. This was a national poetry competition for young people. It helped her see the important issues teens across the country were facing.

Aja Monet was in high school when the 9/11 attacks happened in New York City.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Aja Monet saw how police and the Black community sometimes had problems. This experience made her want to use her voice to help others.

Aja Monet's Career

When she was 19, in 2007, Aja Monet became the youngest poet to win the Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Champion title. She is also the last woman to have won this award since then.

She studied at Sarah Lawrence College and later earned a master's degree in writing from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Her Written Work

After college, Aja Monet published two e-books. They were called Black Unicorn Sings (2010) and Inner-City Chants and Cyborg Ciphers (2014). She also helped edit a spoken word collection called Chorus: A Literary Mixtape (2012).

Her poetry collection, My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry. A review in Publishers Weekly said her language was "stunning and evocative." It showed how she "strikingly illustrates the passage from girlhood to womanhood."

In 2019, she contributed poems to the book New Daughters of Africa. These poems were about love and how it connects to fighting for freedom.

Community Work

In 2015, Aja Monet spoke at an event for the #SayHerName movement. This movement helps raise awareness about women who have been victims of police brutality.

Later in 2015, Aja Monet moved from Brooklyn to Miami. She wanted to help build a community there that used art for social justice.

In 2020, she supported Bernie Sanders's campaign for president.

Working with Musicians

Aja Monet has also worked with many musicians. In 2019, she collaborated with Eryn Allen Kane on Kane's album, a tree planted by water.

In 2021, she released "The FREE Tape" with Smoke Signals Collective. This was a hip-hop album that she called a "soundtrack for liberation." It featured many singers, poets, and musicians.

In 2023, Aja Monet released her first album, when the poems do what they do. It featured famous artists like Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah and Marcus Gilmore. The New York Times called the album "a nuanced exploration of Blackness." Pitchfork praised the album for exploring "Black joy and the blight of capitalism." This album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2024.

Aja Monet is also featured in Harry Belafonte's 2023 documentary, Following Harry.

Her Work in Miami

Aja Monet used to live in Little Haiti, Miami. She felt a strong connection to Florida's history and its issues, like "climate gentrification."

Smoke Signals Studio

In 2016, she helped start Smoke Signals Studio in Miami. This is an arts group that focuses on music, art, and helping the community. The studio uses a barter system. This means people can trade their skills instead of money. For example, if you use the studio for an hour to record music, you might give an hour of guitar lessons to the community. This helps young people learn new skills.

VOICES: Poetry for the People

Aja Monet also leads a poetry workshop called VOICES: Poetry for the People. She organized the first Maroon Poetry Festival in the Liberty City area of Miami.

In 2019, she led a project called Where the Land Is Free. It was shown at the Wynwood's Bakehouse Art Complex. This project included photos of long-time Black and brown residents of Wynwood. Where the Land Is Free worked with the Community Justice Project. This group helps people fight for their rights.

In 2016, some people in the Little Farm Mobile Home neighborhood were losing their homes. Developers wanted to build new things. The Community Justice Project helped these residents, many of whom spoke Spanish or Creole. Aja Monet led poetry workshops with them. This helped the residents feel stronger and fight against the developers. They wrote and performed poems and learned about movements like the Black Arts Movement and the Chicano Movement. This project grew into VOICES: Poetry for the People and the Maroon Poetry Festival.

In 2019, VOICES also partnered with Exchange for Change. This group offers classes in Florida prisons. Together, they held poetry workshops for writers who were incarcerated.

Her Work in Palestine

Flashmob in Nazareth

In 2015, Aja Monet joined a flashmob in Nazareth. This event was organized by the Dream Defenders group during their visit to Palestine. Patrisse Cullors, who helped start #BlackLivesMatter, led the protest.

During the event, Aja Monet spoke a poem. The flashmob was a way to show support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. This campaign was started by Palestinian groups in 2005. The group danced the dabke, sang "Ella's Song" by Sweet Honey in the Rock, and chanted "I believe that we will win!" This event happened just a few months after the Ferguson unrest in the U.S.

Discography

Albums

• When the Poems Do What They Do (drink sum wtr, 2023-06-09)

Singles

• "Give My Regards to Brooklyn" (drink sum wtr, 2022-06-29)
• "The Devil You Know" (drink sum wtr, 2023-02-22)
• "For Sonia" (drink sum wtr, 2023-04-19)