aja monet

Surrealist Blues Poet aja monet works in the business of goosebumps and heart-gut-telling truths. The youngest recipient of the Nuyorican Grand Slam Poetry title, she earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2024 and an NAACP Image Award nomination for her poetry collection my mother was a freedom fighter.
monet honed her voice in New York City’s Lower East Side poetry clubs before emerging as a touring bandleader and global performer, appearing at the Guggenheim, Lincoln Center, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival and the Barbican Centre, where she headlined as the 2025 Artist in Residence at the EFG London Jazz Festival. Her poems are harmolodic, vulnerable and insurgent, following in the long tradition of poets organizing in social movements for change.
Her awards include the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award and the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Vanguard Award, among others. She serves as Artistic Creative Director for V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Her most recent poetry collection, florida water, is out on Haymarket Books, and her sophomore studio album the color of rain is set for release in May 2026.
aja monet will also perform on the SJZ Break Room Stage on Saturday, August 8 at 6pm.