Accepting Bookings for 2026-2027
BOOK ME
J.R. Rice, the award-winning author, poet, educator, and host, is accepting booking inquiries from reputable venues, schools, libraries, businesses, arts organizations, and community groups. Compensation up for negotiation.
WHO IS J.R. RICE?
EDUCATOR
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
EDUCATOR
J.R Rice has been an active English teacher for more than 16 years. He has experience teaching all grade levels from middle to high school. He has held teaching positions in Long Beach, Salinas, Castro Valley, and Oakland, as well as the Canary Islands, Spain where he taught for 3 years. He currently teaches and resides in the Bay Area.
AUTHOR
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
EDUCATOR
J.R Rice is the award-winning author of the novel, Broken Pencils (June 11, 2024), the poetry collection, I WAS, AM, WILL BE, and several original poems and short stories published in California Bards NorCal Poetry Anthology (2025, 2026), J.A Books Magazine (Autumn 2022) the Poets For Harris: Poetry Anthology, and The Town: An Anthology of Oakland Poets by Nomadic Press.
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST
J.R Rice has been a featured performer at various Bay Area events including Oakland First Fridays, Cal State San Marcos, Oakland Public Library, Beast Crawl Literary Festival, Contra Costa Crisis Center Poetry Fundraiser, UCSF Black Caucus, Cobiz Creative Art Expo, Literary Speakeasy, Hayward Lit Fest, and Ruckus And Revival/Tourettes without Regrets. He won 1st place at the 27th Annual Las Positas College Poetry Slam and 2nd place at the Gold.Beams Second Mondays competition in March 2023 and June 2024. He was a semi-finalist in the 2023 Berkeley Poetry Slam Finals. He is also the host and curator of Get-Hype Open-Mic, a bi-weekly artist showcase at Discover Community Cafe in Oakland, CA.
Jonah Tarver returns in I WAS, AM, WILL BE
"Who were you yesterday?
Who are you today?
Who will you be tomorrow?"
I WAS, AM, WILL BE is a bold, vulnerable, and genre-defiant poetry collection chronicling the three-month journey of Jonah Tarver, a 25-year-old Black American man drifting through Europe in search of healing, purpose, and self-definition. Reeling from heartbreak, career loss, and his father’s dying health, Jonah leaves behind the weight of America to wander the streets of Spain, Greece, France, and the Netherlands, armed only with a pen, passport, and unresolved questions.
As the follow-up to the acclaimed novel, BROKEN PENCILS, this experimental collection of poetry, short stories, letters, and creative non-fiction, pulses with humor, rage, tenderness, and truth. I WAS, AM, WILL BE is not just a coming-of-age story, this book is a song of survival, a meditation on memory, and a love letter to the broken beauty of becoming.
Take the first step toward joining this journey
By ordering your copy today!
Discover Community Cafe Presents: GET-HYPE OPEN-MIC - Hosted
Bi-Weekly Series Hosted by J.R. Rice
With over a year and 100 shows, Get-Hype Open-Mic continues to remain as one of the best open mic showcases in West Oakland, held every other Friday from 7:00–9:00 p. with a writer's workshop from 6-6:45 pm, all FREE!
Open Call to Local Talent and Vendors
CALLING ALL PERFORMERS: POETS, MUSICIANS, EDUCATORS, STORYTELLERS, COMEDIANS, AND ADMIRERS! Are you interested in participating in the next Get-Hype Open-Mic? Complete the submission form and enter your chance to take the stage.
Sneak Peak Presentation and Audio
Broken Pencils -Mosswood
Read, listen, and follow along as J.R. Rice narrates the dramatic opening prologue entitled "Mosswood" from his debut coming-of-age novel, Broken Pencils.
Featuring J.R. .Rice and Presented by Pub Scholar
Art of Black Storytelling Juneteenth Lecture
In this lecture, the audience will identify key elements of Black storytelling, connect them to major Black historical movements, and analyze how J.R. Rice’s poems uses those elements to continue the tradition.
UPCOMING EVENTS
6.11.24
BROKEN PENCILS
Jonah Tarver, a troubled Oakland teenager grappling with his parents’ troubled marriage, his own mental disorder, and the weight of his best friend’s death, embarks on a desperate quest to find meaning in life. Will he find the purpose he yearns for, or will he discover that life has no point like broken pencils?
I Was, Am, Will Be (Double Issue#1)
In Rice's first poetry book, the reader follows Jonah Tarver in his twenties on his three-month journey throughout Spain, Greece, France, and Amsterdam, as he ventures alone into the unknowns of love, life, liberation, and takes the journey along with him.
I Was, Am, Will Be (Double Issue#2)
In Rice's second poetry book, the reader continues to follow Jonah Tarver on his heroic three-month journey throughout Europe as he ventures alone into the unknowns of determination, destiny, and death, and takes the audience along the ride.
Order your copies at the link below
PHOTO GALLERY
ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY
Who were you yesterday?
Who are you today?
Who will you be tomorrow?
I WAS, AM , WILL BE
Released: 10.02.2026
ISBN-13 : 978-1952555121
Join the journey.
Visit Afterword Press
for more information.