J.W. Basilo is a working writer, performer, voice actor, and musician from Chicago. Perhaps best known as the former co-host of the world famous Uptown Poetry Slam, Basilo is also a National and World Poetry Slam finalist, Pushcart Prize nominee, and former Artistic Director and founder of Chicago Slam Works Ensemble Theatre, landing him Newcity’s LIT 50, a yearly list of Chicago’s most notable literary figures. His stage act, a mash-up of music, poetry, comedy and storytelling, earned him a reputation as a sought-after performing artist, where he has been a regular contributor to shows like Paper Machete, The Blackout Diaries, Fruit Salad, OutSpoken, This Much is True, and Write Club. His work continues to appear on TV, radio, literary journals, and in hundreds of theaters, dive bars, libraries, and prisons around the world.