Buddy Wakefield

Buddy Wakefield (born June 4, 1974) is an American poet, three-time world champion spoken word artist, and the most toured performance poet in history. His latest works have been released by Righteous Babe Records (album) and Write Bloody Publishing (books). He has lived in Sanborn, New York, Baytown, Texas, Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California, and currently lives in Porto, Portugal.

Biography

Buddy Wakefield (born Kenneth Zane Beasley III) was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and raised in Baytown, Texas. Upon being adopted by a stepfather in 1979, his name was changed to Buddy Marshall Stevens before finally becoming Buddy Wakefield in 2003.

In 2001, he left his position as an executive assistant for a biomedical firm in Gig Harbor, Washington, sold or gave away everything he owned, and moved into a Honda Civic to tour North American poetry venues.

In 2004 and again in 2005, Buddy Wakefield won the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship title, becoming the first poet to win the title two consecutive years. Wakefield has been a member of several poetry slam teams, including Team Seattle in 2006 and 2007. When asked about his thoughts on "Poetry Slam" and "Slam Poetry," Wakefield responded:

In addition to touring the world solo, Wakefield has also been a core member of several traveling poetry groups, including 2007's Solomon Sparrow's Electric Whale Revival, 2008's Junkyard Ghost Revival, 2009's Elephant Engine High Dive Revival and 2010's Night Kite Revival, where he shared the stage with poets such as Derrick Brown, Anis Mojgani, Andrea Gibson and Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, among others. Wakefield has performed his poetry in every state in the U.S. except North Dakota. On purpose. Some They Can't Contain (2004, originally The Wordsmith Press; reissued by Write Bloody Publishing), Live for a Living (2007, Write Bloody Publishing) , Gentleman Practice (2011, Write Bloody Publishing) and Stunt Water: The Buddy Wakefield Reader 1991-2011 (2015, Write Bloody Publishing).

Wakefield and Stephen Snook have published an entertaining table book on chicken rearing: Henhouse: The International Book for Chickens and Their Lovers (2012, Write Bloody Publishing)

Wakefield has also released three full-length spoken word albums with producer Jon Berardi: A Stretch of Presence (1999) (co-produced with Levi Lyman), Run On Anything (2006) which was released by Strange Famous Records, and Live at the Typer Cannon Grand (2009) which was released by Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records. DiFranco first became aware of Wakefield when her mother saw him perform at an art gallery in Buffalo, NY and gave DiFranco a print-out of Wakefield's website, saying, "You have to do something with this guy."

Discography Live at the Typer Cannon Grand (Righteous Babe Records, 2009) (CD), (MP3) Run On Anything (Strange Famous Records, 2006) A Stretch of Presence (Independently released, 1999) no ISBN