Illegal Poet

Illegal Poet is a spoken word artist and social activist. He writes powerfully and personally about the current state of the world from the perspective of a poet living outside of the so called global village. His most recent books are: The Awakening, an exhilarating and refreshing poetic collection of a budding poet, and Illegal Thoughts?

Combining the political, the personal, the poetic and the hilarious in his signature blend of spoken word, Audley A. Astwood is gaining a strong reputation across the Caribbean, the United Kingdom (Best performance in London by an International Poet for 2006) and the USA for his bold, funny and thought-provoking performances. Whether taking a stance on child or spousal abuse, daring and insightful attacks on Santa Claus, O.J. Simpson or rhyming off his incisive spoken word rants, his unique Caribbean perspective, and unusual sense of humor have been winning him a loyal following.

Audley studied Broadcasting and Management in Ft. Lauderdale. It was in the United States where he made the transition from an author to a Spoken Word Artist in August of 2004. He published two volumes of poetry “The Awakening” and “Illegal Thoughts?” which have been studied in elementary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the Turks & Caicos. A third volume entitled “Illegal Poet”™ which is an extension of his debut CD is expected to be published in 2008 in Virginia.

Audley has performed in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), the United States: Las Vegas (Caesar’s Palace), New York (Nuyorican Poet’s Café), Florida and Georgia (Apache Café) the United Kingdom (London and Brixton) and several countries in the Caribbean sparking a buzz and became known as the poet with his own signature style of poetry. He has made several local radio and TV appearances in his home country of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Audley recently made his U.S. TV debut in Baltimore, Maryland in April of 2008 on “The Poets Lounge”. On the premiere episode, he performed “Hip Hop 101” and “The Band Played On” and had the honour to share the spotlight with poetic legend Nikki Giovanni. Illegal Poet has also been featured in documentaries in the Turks & Caicos and also in the United States. He has been interviewed and had his poetry published in every local newspaper in his country. He was a weekly poet columnist for the Turks & Caicos Times which had distribution in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe with over a million weekly subscribers. He at present is the only Spoken Word Artist in his country and has made it a top priority to change that. A huge force in promoting poetry to the masses in his country, in 2004 he launched Cactus Slam™, the first poetry festival in the Turks & Caicos Islands. The festival which attracted poetry pioneer Bruce George of Def Poetry Jam™ fame to attend as a special guest and featured many Spoken Word artists from South Florida. Audley at present is focusing on taking his unique style of poetry to span the entire globe.