In an increasingly digital world, connecting over a common interest in real life is even more meaningful. “It’s person to person. It’s getting recommendations. It’s finding out from your friends or people you admire what they’re reading,” said C.J. Box, the author behind the Western mystery series Joe Pickett. “You just got to get out […]
Caleb Rainey
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Caleb Rainey and Lisa Roberts on getting ‘the leader of this generation’s spoken word’ for Mic Check Poetry Fest
The 2024 Mic Check Poetry Fest, billed as a two-day celebration of spoken word and its power to bear witness, create community and inspire change, kicks off Friday night with a showcase featuring some of the biggest names in the spoken word landscape. Little Village talked with festival organizers Caleb Rainey (recent Iowa Authors Award […]
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Page Poetry Contest winner, 2024: “Running Joke” by Ellie Medea-Kapp
Running Joke By Ellie Medea-Kapp Did you know that you’re a running joke? Yet when he grips my hands till they crack I want to run, it seems that we see you, wherever we go, we always see you, you see, I wasn’t there when you pulled that knife, but whenever I hear your name […]
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Iowa City’s Mic Check Poetry Festival to return with a slam in November after ‘phenomenal’ 2021 turnout
Iowa City Poetry’s Mic Check Poetry Festival will return Nov. 11-12 after organizers Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey and Lisa Roberts received what Rainey called a “phenomenal showing” of support and enthusiasm last year. The November festival will be only two days this year instead of three, but it will include expanded offerings and an […]
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Mirrorbox Theatre staging the story of Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis, beyond his infamous LSD no-hitter
Editor’s note: After the initial publication of this story, the premiere of ‘This is Not a Game of Baseball’ was postponed due to COVID-19. More details at the end of the article. I spoke with Cavan Hallman, Curtis Jackson and Caleb Rainey — the writer, director and lead performer of the forthcoming play This Is […]
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Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey
Caleb Rainey was voted Best Poet/Spoken Word Artist in Little Village’s 2020 Best of the CRANDIC awards. “The oldest poem I can think of was one in elementary school. Obviously, it rhymed,” Best Poet of the CRANDIC Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey said in a recent phone call, laughing. “But the poem that I count […]
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Book Review: ‘Heart Notes’ by Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey
Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey’s second volume of poetry was self-published in October, just five months after his first volume (Look, Black Boy) was released. Heart Notes departs from race as its central topic and focuses on aspects of love, which Rainey explores through widely varying structures and types of poems. In fact, if you’ve ever wondered whether
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Young spoken-word poets express ‘heartache and joy’ on the Englert stage for the IC Speaks showcase
Stage lights cast a blue hue on a lone mic as attendants trickled into the Englert Theatre to see the IC Speaks Showcase on Saturday night. About a dozen students from West, City, Liberty and Tate high schools filled the first two rows on the theater’s west side. In the hour and a half that followed, the students got up one by one to stand at
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Look, Black Boy’ by Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey
With his first self-published chapbook, Look, Black Boy, Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey confronts and challenges his readers while communicating with them on a variety of levels. The central theme of this short collection is how it feels to be a young black man in 2019 in the Midwest.
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The Negro Artist and making space for black voices in Iowa
Caleb Rainey, aka the Negro Artist, came to Iowa City to earn an English major at the University of Iowa. Rainey was one of only 57 black men, in his undergraduate class of over 4,000 first-year students, who were not part of a Hawkeye sports team.
