Unwanted Words – Winners 2nd Queer & Feminist Poetry Awards

“Queer & Feminist Poetry: All Stars Edition by Unwanted Words” 
Experience a show with award-winning intersectional poetry! Get a chance to witness a show featuring the winners and creators of the 2nd Queer & Feminist Poetry Awards by Stichting Unwanted Words Project. Under the theme of “Decolonizing Gender”, these poets were awarded for their talent, prowess and activism through their art in categories such as “Best Queer Performance”, “Best Feminist Performance”, “The BIPOC Voice Award”, among others.  

About Unwanted Words: 
Stichting Unwanted Words Project is an award-winning platform for emerging queer poets and spoken word artists in the Netherlands. Our goal as a collective is to create spaces where LGBTQ+ talent can thrive and connect with like-minded communities. We are on a mission to provide more options for safe(r) spaces and opportunities for queer connection and growth. We do this through spoken word workshops & open mics such as our Queer Poetry Nights series. As well as initiatives to spotlight the best queer talent in our community such as our 1st & 2nd Queer & Feminist Poetry Awards and our Queer & Feminist Poetry Anthology. We aim to promote and empower queer voices from an intersectional approach. 

Host: Tuaca Kelly (she/her/femmeDaddy) 
Tuaca Kelly is an American poet, songwriter, performance artist, and philosopher from San Francisco, California. She represents the Generation X as a fierce femmeDaddy. Inspired by the iconic leather daddies she encountered in her youth, as well as the enchanting world of Wonder Woman comics, Tuaca explores themes of love - agape & eros - intimacy, religious mysticism, personal development, unbridled sensuality, and the transformative power of sacred sex. With a dictionary in hand, she fearlessly dives into these realms. 

Kevin (Ahn Kwang Soo) Groen (he/him) — Poet of the Year, Honorary Mention (2023) 
Kwang Soo/Kevin is a behavioural change expert and spoken word artist who doesn’t shy away from exploring the uncomfortable. As an adopted South Korean boy growing up in The Netherlands ‘identity’ has always been a question throughout his life that only led to more questions, and it took years before he understood and learned to embrace the paradoxes that is adoption. Today he uses his voice to help his clients feel more alive, make workplaces more humane, and confront audiences with prejudices and unconscious biases you didn’t even know you had. 

Luka Prelas  (she/her) — Winner of the Best Feminist Performance Award (2023) 
Luka is a Croatian poet, budding spoken word performer, and classical musician on hiatus. Through her prose poems and spoken word, she explores her trans womanhood, traumas, love aches, and insecurities. One of those explorations even scored her a feminist performance award at the 2nd Queer & Feminist Poetry Awards in 2023. Luka has also been setting her writing to musical, stage, and visual arts contexts with her band SYSSE since 2019 and in several European festivals and competitions. She would like to think of her style as exorcism-like, often angry, seldom sweet, with a sprinkle of body horror and a dash of hope. Luka has been performing poems from her one ready-to-go but unpublished poetry collection called "A Hole Where the Sun Should Be". Another collection is currently underway. 

Keanu Neral (they/them) — Winner of the Best Queer Performance Award (2023) 
Keanu Neral started writing at an early age. With erstwhile inspirations like the American poetry slam scene, and books that simply coloured reality grey, Keanu first experienced how difficult it is to put down their pen. Years later, having come into contact with activist art, the sources of inspiration are more often moments of revolt, and especially those who dare to stand first, and for the longest time. Typical of Keanu's art, then, is the bit of daring. "What history quote should you repeat to convince your fellow 11-year-olds to use a nickname other than rasta or nigger?" The "History Quotes" piece is one of the activism-inspired pieces that people remember, and for which the Bipoc choice award was given. ''This is a far too recognisable story for many,'' said the Unwanted Words jury. With those words in mind, Keanu collects memories as landmarks. For some, a shocking story that shocks, for others a Tuesday afternoon in their childhood. At this point in Keanu's life, spoken word is mostly about teasing out cultural diversity, and its effects on life stories. 

Jowi Len Kemper (she/her) — Winner of the Public’s Choice Award (2023) 
Jowi Len Kemper is a spoken word artist and copywriter. Her projects are often related to the Cross-Cultural experience and touch on themes such as identity, sexuality, and freedom. She aspires to build bridges with her stories, shaped by the perspective of a Third Culture Kid and South-East Asian woman. Her work has been shared through visual mediums with Het Nieuwe Instituut and Grande Loge. She has been published on platforms such as Unwanted Words in their 'Queer and Feminist Poetry Anthology' and Spraakuhloos on the first spoken word album in The Netherlands - ‘Binnenste Buiten’. 

Lui Montes (he/they) — Creator of the Queer & Feminist Poetry Awards (2023) 
Lui Montes –@ageoflui– is a queer Mexican spoken word artist based in Rotterdam. Lui’s work explores themes of queer joy, intimacy & spirituality from a decolonial, intersectional lens on identity. Founder of Unwanted Words, an award-winning platform for LGBTQ+ poets in The Netherlands and creator of the "1st & 2nd Queer & Feminist Poetry Awards" (2020, 2023) with the theme “Decolonizing Gender” and the "Queer & Feminist Poetry Anthology" Vol 1 (2021). Lui is dedicated to fostering and amplifying the voices of marginalized groups and collaborating with other individuals and organisations to continue creating safe(r) spaces for our community.