Vibe Magazine Cultural Critic, Kevin Powell on Campus Monday, September 20

SALISBURY, MD--Author and critic Kevin Powell, perhaps best known for his stint on MTV's docu-soap The Real World, lectures at Salisbury State University on Monday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Wicomico Room of the Guerrieri University Center. His presentation is sponsored by SSU's Union of African American Students. Admission is free and open to the public.

Powell, a cultural critic with Vibe magazine, is the author of the recently published and critically acclaimed collection of essays Keepin It Real-Post MTV Reflections on Race, Sex, and Politics.

Dr. Maya Angelou said, "Kevin Powell has the talent to see and the courage to see." Columbia University professor Michael Eric Dyson added, "His equally honest exploration of the racial, sexual, cultural and class fault-lines that thread our psychic and social landscape is not only brave but necessary if our nation is to survive."

He has been interviewed and given commentary on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, the BBC, Politically Correct and BET Tonight/. Powell's quotes and comments on a range of social, political and critical issues have appeared in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Village Voice.

From 1992-1996 Powell wrote exclusively for Quincy Jones' Vibe magazine, the fastest-growing pop cultural publication in history. As a senior writer, he did cover stories and profiles of the late rapper/actor Tupac Shakur, the U. S. Olympic Basketball Team (Dream Team III), Death Row Records, Gen. Colin Powell, feminist scholar Dr. Bell Hooks, Mike Tyson, Penny Hardaway, Treach of Naughty by Nature, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Public Enemy.

Powell's other literary works include In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers, which he edited with Ras Baraka, son of acclaimed writer Amiri Baraka. Powell's volume of poetry, Recognize, was published in 1995.

He is currently forming Get Up On It, a non-profit organization geared toward the political and social upliftment of young Americans, particularly those living in urban areas.

Powell lectures on music, politics, race, gender, pop culture and multiculturalalism.

For more information contact SSUs Public Relations Office at 410-543-6030.