Poet Laureate

Angie Patton is a published book author, small business owner, and currently works for Champaign County. Angie’s career has centered around communications in all forms. Early in her career she worked as a journalist, and editor. Prior to working for Champaign County, she was a communications professional at the University of Illinois for over a decade. Angie is passionate about the creative arts in all forms and her community.

Ruby Mendenhall is a Professor of Sociology, African American Studies, Urban and Regional Planning, Gender and Women’s Studies and Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is an Associate Dean for Diversity and Democratization of Health Innovation at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. She is also an affiliate of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; Women and Gender in Global Perspectives; the Cline Center for Advance Social Research; Epstein Health Law and Policy Program; Family Law and Policy Program; the Institute of Government and Public Affairs; the Cancer Center at Illinois and the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Mendenhall’s research examines how living in racially segregated neighborhoods with high levels of violence affects Black mothers’ mental and physical health using surveys, interviews, crime statistics, police records, data from 911 calls, art, wearable sensors and genomic analysis. She also examines Black mother’s resiliency and spirituality. She is currently directing the STEM Illinois Nobel Project, which provides unprecedented access to STEAM fields. She is currently co-directing the Youth Wellness Project that trains youth Community Health Workers and Citizen Scientists. Mendenhall has written over a hundred poems, including one co-authored with the former Urbana, IL Poet Laureate Ashanti Files titled “From Racism to Renaissance.”

Ja Nelle was born in Springfield, IL, and came from a military family. She joined the Champaign-Urbana community 24 years ago where she raised her three amazing kids, Aria, Ian, and Joshua. She currently works for the University of Illinois as an IT specialist for the College of ACES. She has written two books of poetry, a chapter book titled Eyes Open and her second Splitting 650. Her third book Breathe will be out next summer. She is a member of the Galaxy of Poets group that works to bring awareness and support to mental health through the art of words. She performs at Soul on Sunday, a group that enriches the poetry and music scene in Urbana. She joined forces with the previous Poet Laureate, Ashanti Files to host workshops for the Writers of Oya, and performed alongside Will Reger, the first Poet Laureate, in this year’s Central Illinois Rivers in Art and Poetry event. Ja Nelle was selected as the 2020 Artist Ace Awards winner and also founded Cinderella/Cinderfella, a ballroom dance troupe for children. She has performed her poetry at SPEAK Café, Pygmalion, Iron Post, and many other events throughout the community. Ja Nelle Davenport-Pleasure has immersed herself in the arts for more than three decades. In addition to being an author and spoken word poet, Ja Nelle is an avid dancer, and jewelry and recycled clothing designer. Ja Nelle has engaged audiences throughout the United States and internationally. She strives to help people of all ages to express themselves creatively through writing, spoken word, music, dance, and other art forms. She looks to share her gifts and passions with all in her community in hopes of building a brighter tomorrow.

Ashanti Files was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Urbana in 2004, where she lives with her husband, Ryan, and three daughters, Camille, Kayla, and Cadence. Files works as a registered nurse at Rosecrance in Champaign, where she works in mental health and addiction services. She has published her poetry and fiction writing in journals including, most recently, the Northern New England Review and their FRONT/LINES: Poetry of Nursing and Pandemic Perspectives. In 2019, she published her own collection of poetry, Woven: Perspectives of a Black Woman. She is the Founder of Writers of Oya, a writer’s program for middle school girls of color in Urbana School District #116 exploring intersections of poetry, spoken word, mental health, social issues, and resilience. Through her mentorship, Writers of Oya participants have performed on CiLiving.tv, Poets in the Park, Pygmalion Poetry Marathon, A March for Nonviolence, and most recently, Station Theater’s #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence. The girls have also appeared in Luminous magazine, Art Now! mini-documentary series, Talks with Tari on 104.5 Radio Free Urbana, and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center’s Sounds Like Community. Participants in Writers of Oya are publishing their first collection of poetry, Unmasked (forthcoming 2021).

Will Reger was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri area. He obtained his Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois and lives in Champaign, Illinois, with his wife and two youngest children. A co-leader of CU Poetry Group, Reger has lent his energies towards initiatives such as MTD Poetry, CU Haiku in the News Gazette, and Poets at the Post, a monthly open mic held at the Iron Post in Urbana. Reger teaches within the Department of History at both Illinois State University and Parkland College and has read his poetry work at The Urbana Free Library, Boneyard Arts Festival, Imbibe Urbana’s Love for All Poetry Crawl, SPEAK Café, Respect the Mic, and as part of an annual reading at Danville Correctional Center. Reger began writing in the 7th grade and has published over 100 poems both in print and on-line, including in Front Porch Review, Chiron Review, Zingara Poetry Review, Passager Journal, Eclectica Magazine, The Blue Nib Literary Magazine, Broadkill Review, Cagibi, Innesfree Poetry Journal, and the Paterson Literary Review. His first chapbook is Cruel with Eagles, a self-published volume of poems illustrated by his daughter, Gretchen Valencic, formerly of Savoy. As the City of Urbana’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Will Reger will work with the City of Urbana’s Arts and Culture Program to spearhead his proposed projects. He will also present poetry at various civic events throughout the year.

The inaugural Youth Poet Laureate Program celebrates Urbana's youth by sponsoring an Urbana teen poet (ages 13 - 18) who serves as a youth ambassador for poetry and utilizes poetry as a means for civic leadership, artistic excellence, and social engagement. Urbana's Youth Poet Laureate Program joins the National Youth Poet Laureate Program (YPL) network through Urban Word with programs in more than 50 cities, states, and counties across the United States, collaborating with leading national literary organizations including the Library of Congress, the Academy of American Poets, Poetry Foundation, Cave Canem, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 "The Youth Poet Laureate Program is one of the nation's most important civic movements of this generation. The YPLs are a collective of not only brilliant young writers but also deeply committed, young civic leaders working to improve their communities," said Dr. Camea Davis, National Youth Poet Laureate Director. Urbana's Youth Poet Laureate will be eligible to apply for the 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate Competition. 

Danyla Nash is a writer and spoken word artist from Urbana, Illinois. For over three years, she has been a foundational member of the Writers of Oya, a spoken word artist and writer’s program for young girls of color. She has performed original poetry in local, regional, and national venues including Soul on Sunday, Talks with Tari on 104.5, ciLiving, Sounds Like Community, Art Now!, Pygmalion Literary Marathon, Hood Vote Neighborhood Transformation’s civic events, Luminous Magazine, United Way’s Teen Summit, Black Voices Theatre Production, and two National African American Parent Involvement Day performances. Nash’s poetry is published in Unmasked, a collection of poetry from the Writers of Oya and its subsequent audiobook. She’s a 2021 MLK, Jr. Creative Expressions Competition winner and presented her own workshop, “Spittin’ the Unspeakable: Using Slam Poetry to Cope with Trauma” at the National Guild for Community Arts Educators. She has the ability to take her experiences and connect them to larger social, political, racial, and economic themes. Danyla is a Scholar Award recipient at Urbana High School, and when not writing, she plays flute and oboe, performs in color guard, and spends time with her family. She’s working on her first poetry collection due out later this year