Sarah Kay

• Name — Sarah Kay • Born — 19 June 1988 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Poet • Education — Brown University (MA) • Website — kaysarahsera.com

Kay was born in New York City, New York, to a Japanese American mother and a Jewish American father. Sarah Kay has one brother, Philip Kay, who is four years younger. Sarah's dad worked during the day, so her mom was the one at home that she had to talk to. She has a Master of Arts in teaching from Brown University, and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Grinnell College. She now currently writes, reads, and performs poetry for diverse audiences. She is also the co-director and founder of her current project, project VOICE. She began performing poetry at the Bowery Poetry Club in the East Village at the age of 14, joining their Slam Team in 2006. That year, she was the youngest person competing in the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas. She has participated in many poetry slams. In 2007 Kay made her television debut, performing the poem "Hands" on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. She has performed at events and venues like the Lincoln Center, the Tribeca Film Festival, and at the United Nations where she was a featured performer for the launch of the 2004 World Youth Report. In May 2010, she performed at *spark!, a benefit for the Acumen Fund in New York, New York. On March 3, 2011, she performed at the TED conference in Long Beach, California as part of a series entitled "Beauty, Imagination, Enchantment." Along with a talk about her upbringing, she performed the poems "B: If I should have a daughter..." and "Hiroshima". Kay performed at The Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She is the 2017 Artist in Residence at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. In 2019 she announced via Twitter that she would be hosting a podcast called Sincerely, X, which will be produced by TEDTalks and Audible.