Donté Clark is a poet, actor, and community activist from unincorporated North Richmond, California who works with youth organizations throughout the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

area. As a student in high school, Clark was recruited by his English teacher Molly Raynor who was founding a youth arts program, RAW Talent. Clark became the artistic lead of the program's first play, ''Té's Harmony'', which examined local issues through the structure of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''. The performance was introduced by poet

Luis J. Rodriguez Luis Javier Rodriguez (born 1954) is an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. He was the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate. Rodriguez is recognized as a major figure in contemporary Chicano literature, identifying himself as ...

. The 2015 documentary '' Romeo Is Bleeding'' follows Clark in the process of writing and performing ''Té's Harmony''.Love in the Time of Turf Wars
by Edgardo Cervano-Soto, ''

Richmond Pulse Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

''. February 12, 2013. Accessed April 30, 2015. In July 2014, Donté Clark and two others, Lincoln Bergman and Brenda Quintanilla, were made poets laureate of Richmond for a two year period.Three poets laureate selected to represent Richmond over next two years
. ''The Richmond Standard''. July 14, 2014. Accessed April 30, 2015. They were preceded as poet laureate by

Dwayne Parish Dwayne Parish is an American poet. He was born in Fairfield, California on Travis Air Force Base and grew up in Vallejo, California. He moved to Richmond in 1992. At age 55, he was named the first poet laureate of Richmond, California in 2012. He ...

, and succeeded by Daniel Ari, Ciera-Jevai Gordon and Rob Lipton. Clark's mentoring of the community's youth has led to some becoming mentors and teachers themselves, including poet and actor DeAndre Evans who appeared with Clark and Will Hartfield reciting poetry for a PBS story about housing in Richmond.Poetry exposes truth about public housing in the Bay Area
by Victoria Fleischer. February 24, 2014. Accessed April 30, 2015. Clark has a supporting role in the 2016 film '' Kicks'', the 2018 film ''Code Switch'', and stars in the web series ''The North Pole''.

Collections

*''KNOWFREEDOM'' (2018, self-published on CreateSpace)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Donte American male poets Living people People from Richmond, California Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Municipal Poets Laureate in the United States African-American poets African-American actors 21st-century African-American people African-American male writers

Collections

See also

References