Roscoe Burnems

Roscoe Burnems, also known as Douglas Powell, is an author, spoken-word artist, educator, and Richmond, Virginia’s first poet laureate. He is the author of the collections God, Love, Death and Other Synonyms (310 Brown Street, 2019), Chrysalis Under Fire (The Writer’s Den, LLC, 2018), and Fighting Demons (Prysmatic Dreams Publishing, 2014). In his time as a slam poet, he has been a two-time southern regional team finalist, National Poetry Slam Champion, and Season 1 Screen Time Slam Champion. As a poetry slam coach, he has been a NPS Group Piece finalist and taken VCU’s poetry team to rank 3rd internationally. He is a TEDx speaker and founder of the poetry based art collective The Writer’s Den. In 2021, he received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.