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United States Kevin Coval is a poet, activist, and educator known for his socially engaged poetry and commitment to fostering youth voices.
Kevin Coval is an Emmy-nominated, award-winning poet, playwright, author, screenwriter, and editor of over ten collections, & anthologies including The Breakbeat Poets Series.
Kevin Coval served as a Former Senior Advisor, helping to align and elevate the organizational narrative and mission via storytelling, integrating arts and culture into their work. He was one of the original founders of IFYC and became involved in interfaith work when Hip Hop’s cultural practice gave him new agency and insight into his relationship with Judaism, Buddhism and opened up the majesty and wisdom of the world’s faiths.
Worked with awarded creatives from across the country in creative spaces with brands and companies from around the globe, including Apple.
Worked with awarded creatives from across the country in creative spaces with brands and companies from around the globe, including Nike.
Kevin Coval was raised in the suburbs of Chicago and pursued his education at Ohio University, the University of Wales, and DePaul University. His early experiences included studying in Wales and briefly playing semi-pro basketball before returning to Chicago in 1996. He began performing poetry at open mics, establishing himself in the city’s artistic scene at venues like Alt-X and the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. Coval’s work is characterized by its brave and socially engaged nature, often weaving personal experiences with calls to action, exploring themes of race, hip-hop culture, Chicago history, and Jewish-American identity.
His career saw significant milestones, including co-founding Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival in 2001, which became one of the nation’s largest youth poetry slams and was featured in a documentary. Coval gained wider recognition through multiple appearances on Russell Simmons’s “Def Poetry Jam” on HBO, starting in 2002, where he performed his poem “Family Feud” and later served as a creative consultant. He has authored several poetry collections, such as “Slingshots (A Hip-Hop Poetica)” (2005), which was an American Library Association Book of the Year finalist, “Schtick: Jewish Assimilation and Its Discontents” (2013), and “A People’s History of Chicago” (2017), a collection of 77 poems commenting on the city’s history. Coval also co-wrote the play “This Is Modern Art,” which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults in 2015 and was performed off-Broadway in 2018. He edited “The BreakBeat Poets series” from Haymarket Books, further cementing his influence in contemporary poetry.
As artistic director of Young Chicago Authors starting in 1999, Coval dedicated himself to nurturing young literary talent and building communities. He has contributed to various publications and outlets, including Huffington Post, WBEZ: Chicago Public Radio, CNN, and Rock the Bells. His work has earned him accolades such as the Gandhi/King Peace Making Award and the Studs Terkel Award (2018). Coval also produced the Emmy-nominated segment “Word on the Street” for “Windy City Live” in 2020. Though he departed from Young Chicago Authors in 2021, his impact on youth poetry and socially conscious artistic expression remains notable.
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