Roanoke -based actor, Slam poet, writer, Hip-Hop performer, and Perry F. Kendig-nominated artist Bryan Hancock is leading the charge to create a Youth Poet Laureate program in the Star City.

The founder of Soul Sessions, Roanoke’s longstanding, supportive celebration of spoken word, Hancock is currently working with select schools and youth-serving nonprofit organizations to create a small pilot in 2023.

- Read about the Empathy Project here
- Read Bryan Hancock’s Feb 23, 2022 Roanoke Times Opinion piece, “Vital that we work to preserve justice.”
- Learn more about Soul Sessions here, and on Facebook.