poet. preacher. teacher. father. earther. visioner.

Tai Amri Spann-Ryan, is Lawrence, Kansas' 2016 Langston Hughes Poetry Award Recipient, and is a co-founder of the collaborative group BLACK (Black Literature and Arts Collective of Kansas) Lawrence where he organizes events and readings.

He was the chief editor of Tendrel: Naropa University’s Journal on Diversity, self-published the chapbook Ancient Writings of Dark Prophet The Undisciplined Mystic, and has published work in Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices edited by Angelina Conti and Justice Calls: Sermons of Welcome and Affirmation edited by Phil Snyder.

Group Book Project: beautiful ashe: memoirs of a sweet black boy & More

beautiful ashe: memoirs of a sweet black boy & other poems is a book project conceived of by B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence co-founding member Tai Amri Spann-Ryan. Because he considers this time to be one where Black people are seeking continued liberation that has been exacerbated by quarantine’s loss of income, disproportionately affecting Black people, he wants it to be a project that provides financial security and incentive to other Black artists.