ABOUT
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Samuel Getachew is a 16-year-old poet, activist, and organizer from Oakland, California.
Using poetry as a way to shine light on contemporary issues as well as an personal outlet for emotion, Samuel has had the opportunity to perform his poetry in places ranging from Google's Incarceration Summit to the Oakland March For Our Lives. He has spoken at events featuring artists, writers, activists, and officials including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zendaya, Alice Waters, and numerous California Senators and Congressmen.
His poetry has garnered over half a million views online and he has been published in The New York Times, The SF Guardian, Pop-Up Magazine, and as a part of the SF Curran's play Bright Star. His work has been featured by National Public Radio (NPR), KQED, KTVU News, Voice of America, and more.
Samuel is the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Grand Champion and the 2018 Oakland Youth Vice Poet Laureate, and a 2019 YoungArts Winner in Spoken Word. He was a part of the team that represented the Bay Area at the Brave New Voices (BNV) Festival, the largest youth poetry competition in the world, in 2017, where he and his team were ranked within the top 8 in the world. He is a member of American Eagle's AExME Council.
Offstage, Samuel is a student at Oakland Technical High School and one of the most prominent youth activists and organizers in the Bay Area.