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Take Refuge

"Take Refuge," Leah Harris' debut spoken word album, is flavored with eclectic Middle Eastern, hip-hop, rock, go-go, reggae, and jazz influences. The album poignantly chronicles her legacy as the daughter of two people labeled with 'severe mental illness,' both of whom died very young as a result of toxic treatments and shattered dreams, leaving her an orphan at the age of 30. The album also reflects her own journey of liberation from psychiatric oppression, and her experiences as an artist, activist, and single mother. It is an album filled with righteous rage, but it also brims over with faith in the possibility that a more just, humane, and peaceful world is within our grasp. Leah's work has been featured in publications including Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution (Seal Press, 2007), DC Poets against the War: An Anthology, Off Our Backs: A Feminist Newsjournal, Street Spirit, Mizna, and Adbusters.org. She lives in Washington, DC and is available for performances or speaking engagements at your campus or organization. Contact her on Facebook, MySpace, or via the NEC contact form.

Leah Harris is a mother, a daughter and a psychiatric survivor. Her poems and other writing have been published in Literary Mama, Word Warriors: 30 Women Leaders from the Spoken Word Movement (Seal Press), Adbusters.org, and Off our Backs. Poems of mass construction is her first booklet of poetry. Leah is busy at work on her forthcoming memoir about her journey from her institutionalized girlhood to healing and transcendence.

“Writing and performing poetry is my way of meeting my pain with joy. I believe that words have sacred power to influence reality, if only the reality of the person writing them.” Leah Ida Harris

Booklet, 30 pages