An Evening with Kavi Ade

Kavi Ade

Kavi Ade is a Black Trans Queer speaker, arts educator and nationally recognized poet of Afro & Indigenous Caribbean descent. Kavi received a BA in Social Justice with a concentration on Art for Social Change and Gender Justice from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. Ade’s work meets at the intersection of personal and political — navigating what it means to be a survivor of innumerable violences.  Kavi speaks on race, class, gender, sexuality, mental health, domestic violence, sexual assault, and social justice— chronicling despair, grasping at hope, and exploring the ways a body can learn to survive.

Kavi has given poetry readings and speeches, led workshops and spoken on panels in numerous cities and communities, including over 100 colleges and universities domestically and internationally. Kavi has featured at conferences such as IvyQ, The Five College Queer Conference, The Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference (MBLGTACC), the Transgender Health Conference and True Colors— the largest LGBTQ youth conference in the United States. Kavi is a Brave New Voices and College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) Alum. 

Kavi has worked extensively with youth serving as the Outreach Coordinator and Slam Coach at the Philly Youth Poetry Movement from 2010 - 2017. Additionally Kavi served as a mentor for Transcribez (a trans youth writing group) and has worked with young people in and aging out of the foster care system. Kavi has been featured in publications like PBS, The Philadelphia Inquirer and  BuzzFeed. In 2016 Kavi received the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award that honors “women and trans* artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia who create art for social change and have done so for the past five years or more, demonstrating a long-term commitment to social change work.”