Author Mentors

Mike Guinn

Michael Guinn holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work.

He has successfully fused the art of Spokenword and social awareness in a way that has made him one of the most sought after motivational speakers specializing in creative social awareness and youth empowerment. He is also the founder of the PSI Certified Fort Worth National Poetry Slams and the ForthWrite National Youth Poetry Team and is internationally renowned as one of the world’s hardest working performance poets, emcees, coordinators, poetry slam masters and youth/adult Spokenword event promoters. Guinn is also the co-founder of the NATIONAL POETRY AWARDS, The North Texas Spokenword Awards, Texas Spokenword Awards and continues to host several ongoing weekly, monthly, and annual poetry open mics for the past 16 years. He has appeared, featured, judged, hosted, facilitated workshops and helped organize events for the Austin International Poetry Festival, The Valley International Poetry Festival, The Arkansas Grand Slam, and The World Poetry Slam Championships just to name a few.

Guinn’s list of stellar accomplishments include Two National slam finals appearances, 5 time National Poetry Slam Semi-finalist, Toronto International Slam Co Champ , 5 Time Fort Worth Grand Slam Champ, 13 time NPS Slam Poet, 4 time Austin International Poetry Slam Champion, Great Plains Pile Up Slam Champ, Last Poet Standing Slam Champ and several literary awards including judge for the poetry category for the 2016 NAACP Image Awards. He is currently involved in two movie productions and an online web series called Battle Lines.