Javon Johnson

Javon Johnson is an American spoken word poet, writer, and professor. He was born on September 15, 1968, in Los Angeles. Johnson discovered his passion for poetry in high school after reading the works of Amiri Baraka and Langston Hughes. He honed his skills and won first place in Drama Interpretation at the 2002 American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament while attending California State University, Los Angeles. Johnson continued his education and earned a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, focusing his research on race, gender, and sexuality in slam and spoken word poetry communities. He is currently the director of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Johnson has made television appearances on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, BET's Lyric Café, TVOne's Verses & Flow, The Arsenio Hall Show, and The Steve Harvey Show.