About the Artist

Matt G. is an NC poet, political sociologist, and educator. He believes that poetry, like Wu-Tang, is forever and for the children. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Matt G. was a member of the spoken word group Wordsmiths. In addition to hosting open mics and acting as a performance artist on campus, he also competed in the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI). His team ranked top 20 in the nation in 2012 and made semi-finals in 2018. Matt G. also spent a year with Ebony Readers Onyx Theatre (EROT)—the premier spoken word performance group of UNC’s Black Student Movement. Most recently, beginning in 2023, Matt G. became a fellow of The Watering Hole. In 2024, Matt G. became a member of the Bull City Slam Team in Durham, NC and competed at the 2024 Southern Fried Poetry Festival Slam Tournament, ranking in the top 25 of individual competing poets.

Matt G., while currently unpublished, is no stranger in the poet community. He is a familiar face at open mics and event spaces across NC. He has also been a performer in the Los Angeles scene, primarily visiting Da Poetry Lounge during his time living there. Some choice moments in Matt G.’s poetry career have been opening a show for Rudy Fransisco, being called a badass by Buddy Wakefield, freestyling with Alysia Nicole Harris and Joshua Bennett, and beating G Yamazawa in a haiku slam.