J. Joy “Sistah Joy” Matthews Alford was appointed as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County, Maryland in September 2018 to serve a 3-year term supporting and promoting poetry as well as cultural and literary arts in Prince George’s County. She is an author, arts advocate, and produces and has hosted the award-winning poetry-based cable television show, Sojourn with Words since its inception in 2005.
* Highly experienced poet, presenter, workshop leader
* Provides engaging presentations and workshops (in-person or virtual) to diverse groups including:
- civic, cultural, senior, community and religious groups
- high school and college classrooms
- US and global conferences
* Offers exceptional, unique facilitation skills on topics such as:
- poetry as an anti-hunger tool
- poetry about America's slave holding past
Past MSAC winner in Poetry and Fiction.
Pamela Woolford is an interdisciplinary artist and keynote speaker, intertwining her work as a writer, filmmaker, performer, and immersive-media director to create new forms of narrative work about Black women and girls and others whose joy, imagination, and inner life are under-explored in American media and popular art. She is the recipient of six Maryland State Arts Council Awards, five film-festival awards internationally, a Changemaker Challenge Award from United Way of Central Maryland and Horizon Foundation, and a Baker Artist Award in interdisciplinary arts.\