About

Javan Howard is a poet and writer from the Bronx, NY. He graduated with a B.A. in Africana Studies and Minor in Creative Writing and Poetry from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. Howard mentored incarcerated youth in NYC through poetry workshops where students strengthen their voices and cultivate their creative talents. As an educator and creative engineer, Howard has taken on many roles from a Site Director for an After School Program to Teaching Artist  mentor and writer for program and curriculum Development. He currently is the TAP Co-Director for Curricula, Mentorship & Facilitation with Teaching Artist Project (TAP) at Community-Word Project.

He has facilitated and assisted in poetry workshops and service learning workshops with the Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth (DJJOY) as an AmeriCorps member for The New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Voices UnBroken (Bronx, NY), Breaking Walls (New York, NY), Wingspan Arts (New York, NY) and The Go Project (New York, NY). 

Howard currently facilitates in school residencies and after school workshops for several organizations including, Community-Word Project (New York, NY), Teachers & Writers Collaborative (Brooklyn, NY) and Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts (New York, NY).

In his leisure time, Howard participates in open mic events and uses poetry as a social forum to foster discourse about love, culture, and identity. He truly believes that the lived experience is the ultimate teaching tool because it allows us to connect with individuals from various lines of interest. His work has been featured online at Black Heart Magazine and Brooklyn Stories Vol. 13.

His work has been featured online at WNYC News, Black Heart Magazine, Brooklyn Stories Vol. 13., Poets For Peace, Zine #2: Poems For Resilience and Silver Rose magazine. He has work forthcoming in The Broken Plate and The Minnesota Review. 

His self published chapbook America is ME, America is NOT Me, is available now.