Jamie DeWolf

JAMIE DEWOLF is an acclaimed raconteur, teacher and filmmaker from Oakland, CA. Once called a "verbal Genghis Kahn…vitriolic, rebellious, passionate…” by the East Bay Express with “intense…moving verse” by the NY Times, he’s a perennial NorCal slam champ who specializes in raw power, no-holds-barred humor, and vivid descriptions of life’s underbelly. DeWolf is a National Poetry Slam Champion, Youth Speaks Mentor, featured artist on Russel Simmon’s HBO Def Poetry Jam and was the recipient of the National Performance Network Creation Commission in 2006 for his play, “In Spite of Everything”, a school shooting murder mystery in verse written by his trio The Suicide Kings. The play premiered at the Hip Hop Theater Festival in 2007 and is currently taking them to theaters nation-wide. After he first signed up to perform in 1998, DeWolf (formerly known as Jamie Kennedy), won his way onto slam teams at the National Poetry Slam ever year he's competed since 1999 and has lead three teams to Western Regional Slam Championships. DeWolf has been a Grand Slam Winner three years in a row, taking the title at Oakland and Berkeley and has won the championship at the Ill List, the Chi-Town Classic, the Battle of the Bay, the Indie Slam Showdown, the $1000 Berkeley Grand Slam, the Marin County Fair, and the War of Words Tag Team Bout. He was an Individual finalist for the National Poetry Slam, the International World Championship, the New Word Series, Oakland’s Hottest Poet Showcase and is currently ranked 4th in the world at IWPS. His live act has garnered national recognition from the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and 60 Minutes. His work has been featured on season three of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, UPN and his radio appearances include NPR, KALX, KPFA and Stanford University Radio. One of DeWolf’s proudest achievements continues to be facilitating writing workshops at universities and high schools. He has been a guest lecturer and performer at over fifty schools nationwide such as Stanford University, University of Normal Illinois, Cal Poly, San Francisco State University, University of Minnesota, U.C Berkeley, and Chico State. He has led writing and performance workshops at almost every high school in the Bay Area and Oakland including Skyline, Castlemont, Fremont, as well as Oakland Tech Middle School. He’s currently teaching a year long curriculum of poetry and theatrical performance at the Youth Empowerment High School in East Oakland and developed a full length play/film hybrid called “Byrd” with the students. He’s facilitated slams and writing workshops with the inmates at San Quentin Penitentiary and has also taught spoken word to youth on probation at the YMCA/County Community School Writers Program. He holds the position of Mentor at YouthSpeaks, the premier youth poetry, spoken word, and writing program in the country. In early 2003, Jamie coached the Fremont High School Speech Team to a National Championship, and their victory is featured in a Lucasfilm documentary. As a wise cracking provocateur, prankster and emcee, he’s been described by the East Bay Express as “the geeky red-haired lovechild of a crack-crazed Richard Pryor and Alex from A Clockwork Orange -- but a little less homicidal." Since 1999, DeWolf created and hosts the show Tourettes Without Regrets, which was honored in 2003 with the SF Guardian's "Best of the Bay" award. He was also voted Best Host by the National Collegiate Slam the same year. Tourettes features a freestyle battle, filmed pranks, anarchic comedians, freak-show performers, and is home to the largest poetry slam in the nation every month in Oakland. Jamie's great grandfather on his mother's side is the infamous L. Ron Hubbard, sci fi author and the creator of the cult of Scientology, who passed down his red hair and knack for inspiring mass insanity. DeWolf's critical poem about his genetic legacy entitled 'Judas Son' led to fierce battles with the cult and resulted in DeWolf becoming the Master of Ceremonies at the first ever anti-Scientology benefit concert in Clearwater, Florida in 2000. He continues to host everything from beat-boxer competitions and freestyle battles to wrestling matches and circus sideshows. As a filmmaker, DeWolf has written and directed several short films including “Safe” and “Heartless” and wrapped production on his full length HD feature film, “SMOKED”, a dark comedy crime caper starring the Suicide Kings as three gutter punks who rob an Oakland Cannabis Club. The film was written and directed by DeWolf with collaboration from Moss Productions and will be hitting nation-wide film festivals later this year. He is currently at work finishing two feature film screenplays for “Boiler Maker” and “Sulfur”, and a novel in progress. He lives and teaches in Oakland, CA.