Leslie Reese

Leslie Reese has 25+ years experience as a Teaching Artist. She earned a BA from Alabama A & M University and a MA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College. In addition to authoring the poetry collections, Upside Down Tapestry Mosaic History, and Urban Junkstar, Leslie has collaborated with dancers, musicians, and visual artists; and is the founder of folklore & literacy, which uses books and the arts as gateways to literacy, discovery, and self-expression. Leslie has served as an Arts Curriculum Consultant for Hope for Flowers Arts Enrichment Program, a Kresge Arts Literary Panelist, a Recitation Judge for Poetry Out Loud, and Poetry Teaching Artist/Consultant for the Gloster Arts Project. Since 2019 Leslie has been a Chicago Poetry Center poet-in-residence, a role she first practiced with InsideOut Literary Arts Project, and Broadside’s Poet-in-Residence Program in Detroit Public Libraries. Leslie is a production partner & feature of CPC’s educational video poetry series, ”Queen Zee’s Poetic Adventures” and is a 2025 recipient of CPC’s Gwendolyn Brooks Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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