The United States Conference of Mayors and the Americans for the Arts gave national recognitions recently to Cuyahoga County Poet Laureate, Honey Bell-Bey.
She received the Citizens Arts Award. According to a release from Cuyahoga County, the award “recognizes artists who have made the highest contribution both in their professional artistic endeavors to advance the arts as well as in their personal charitable pursuits to improve the world.”
Awarded every year since 1997, prior recipients have included John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kerry Washington, Gloria Estefan, The Actors Fund and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
Honey Bell-Bey has been using poetry to unite communities around issues of social justice and equity for more than 25 years. She places a particular focus on assisting others with emotional recovery through her platform POET. It’s an acronym for Power Over Emotional Trauma. Last month, she released a new book of poetry under the same name.
Ms. Bell-Bey joined “Sound of Ideas” host Jenny Hamel recently to talk about the award, her career and the healing power that words can have.
She also read a portion of a poem from her new book entitled, “I Wrapped Myself in a Poem.”
Guests:
-Honey Bell-Bey, Poet Laureate, Cuyahoga County