Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Ebony Payne-English to the Words and Sh*t stage!
Ebony Payne-English is an author, performance artist, and educator from Jacksonville, FL. She is the first woman to establish her own chapter of the international poetry organization, Black on Black Rhyme. Ebony is curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville’s first Hip Hop exhibition, The God MC, and is the 2017 Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Emerging Artist. As recipient of the Spoken Word Gala’s 2017 William Bell Humanitarian Award, Ebony volunteers as an Art Selection Panelist for the City of Jacksonville’s Art In Public Places Committee. She is the Managing Director of The Performers Academy and a founding member of the Southern Fried Poetry Inc. Board of Directors.
Ebony is author of the award winning poetry collection, “Secrets of Ma’at”; graphic novel, “The Random Happenings”; and has been featured in esteemed publications as well as digital outlets such as PBS’s Homegrown, The Florida Times Union, WJCT's First Coast Connect, Folio Weekly, Void Magazine, and My Black Matters. In her 16 years of professional experience, Ebony’s performance accolades include The Florida Theater, The New Orleans House of Blues; Essence Festival; Nuyorican Café; Crossroads Theatre, TEDx, Jax by Jax as well as countless other colleges, universities, and prestigious entertainment venues nationwide. Her discography includes 6 albums: Old Soul (2006), Struggle’s Embrace (2010), EbEnFlo (2012), School Beats (2013), Know Love (2015), and Kuongoza (2020).
Ebony’s educational background features Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, New World Conservatory, Florida A & M University and Florida State University. She has taught invitational workshops at venues such as the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, Morgan State University, HBO Brave New Voices, the National Afterschool Programming Conference and the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Ebony’s defining piece as a playwright was a one woman autobiographical entitled “On Purpose”, opened to critical acclaim April of 2017 at WJCT Television Studios in Jacksonville, FL. It’s sequel, The Goddess Experience, is slated to open at the Times-Union Center for Performing Arts next year.
