Synnika Lofton

Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is a poet, recording artist, educator, and a founding member of the hip hop group Black Lion Insurgents. Lofton has recorded more than one hundred and fifty CDs, albums, CD-singles, and mixed-tapes of poetry, including his highly praised debut, The New Breed. He is the author of twenty books and the founder of Riot Speech, a sub-genre of spoken word that combines performance poetry with traditional musical forms, such as Rock, Jazz, and Hip Hop. His poems have been published in Experience Reality Magazine, Quay: A Journal of the Arts, UpStreet: A Literary Magazine, and, in 2014, Lofton has been featured in Blind Sided Magazine. Lofton is also the President of Guerrilla Ignition LLC—an independent recording, publishing, and film company. He wrote the poem, "Sacred Drum," for the Goddard College Presidential Inauguration of former President Mark Schulman. Through his Global Poetry Project—an online initiative—his poetry has been heard in France, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Haiti, Venezuela, and Israel. His poems, "Guerrilla Ignition" and "Love's Outlaw" appeared in the documentary, Super-Size Me Too, by Fan Productions. Lofton received a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College. He is a regular on Virginian television programs such as The Hampton Roads Show and Chesapeake’s Thinking Out Loud on WCTV. He teaches World Literature, British Literature, and Composition, while touring the country, performing at literary festivals, musical festivals, poetry readings, open mics, concerts, high schools, and colleges. He hosts his own poetry festival in April, the People’s Poetry Festival and has hosted poetry venues for aspiring writers for more than ten years. He also leads the African Mahogany Book Club—the longest running book club in Chesapeake Virginia.