Dralandra Larkins
Dralandra Larkins is an award-winning spoken-word poet and educator, and a recipient of the Loft Literary Center Teaching Artist Fellowship. She is a multi-genre writer and audiobook author of Before I Lie (2025), a COMPAS teaching artist, a recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, and Springboard for the Arts’ Weathering Together artist grant. She’s performed for the NAACP, Button Poetry, Mil City Museum, TruArtSpeaks, MN State Capitol, MN Black Business Ball, and the MN Black Authors Expo. Her work weaves together rhythm, intimacy, and vulnerability to create a haven for healing rooted in her background as a social worker. She is the co-editor of Cracked Walnut's anthology, Rewilding Hope(2023) and The Nations Underground: Writing with Our Ancestors with Cabello-Hansel (2024), and currently coordinates literary programming at Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, including Club Book, Moving Words, and the Fireside Reading Series.
