Brave New Voices is a festival that gathers over 500 Teen Poetry Slam Champions from 45 parts of the country and five additional cities from across the globe. Chicago Public Radio will host one of four semi-final bouts of the Brave New Voices competition this Friday. Vocalo.org will be broadcasting regular check-ins on the contest and additional interviews from noon until the competition is over. Eight Forty-Eight Poet-in-Residence Kevin Coval describes the process and history.

Music Button: Fat Jon, “No Way Back”, from the Samurai Champloo OST, (Geneon records)