Hear Here Poetry Slam Featuring Nikolas Martell

Nikolas Martell is a professional spoken word artist, actor, photographer, and craft artisan based out of the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

They hold multiple national and regional titles in slam poetry, including a championship title and best poem award at CUPSI 2011.

Their first collection of poetry and photography, Gunpowder Elephants, was produced in 2014 and another manuscript is currently in development. Their work has also been published in two anthologies by 20% Theatre Company – Minneapolis in their Naked I series.

They are the lead content editor for Button Poetry, and co-founded the queer open mic and cabaret OUTspoken. They coached the Macalester College slam poetry team in 2014 and 2017, and are actively involved in mentorship and community building through the arts.

They are studying philosophy with a focus on personal identity and ethics, which informs their work in the arts.

Most of their poetry centers on issues of mental health, substance abuse, queer identity, interpersonal relationships, and ethics. They don’t like writing bios much, but think cuttlefish and fig trees are pretty neat. For more of their work, check out their blog: sadtabouli.wordpress.com