Saul Williams – författare

In Martyr Loser King, the East Africa country of Burundi is a source of the precious mineral coltan, a component of every technology on earth. The people who mine coltan are exploited, and the land around the mines is used by the rest of the world as a dumping ground for defunct machines. But from the rubble, creativity and rebellion rise in the form of a hacker who calls himself Martyr_Loser_King and an otherworldly stranger named Neptune Frost. Together, they launch a cyberattack that reverberates throughout the world. But the world is too focused on old enemies to recognize a new transformative force that seeks not destruction, but rebirth and understanding.Steeped in mythology and history but inspired by present-day events, Martyr Loser King offers a glimpse of a future that doesn’t feel far from possible.

From the astonishing poet who gave readers Said the Shotgun to the Head, comes this provocative look into the galvanising force of hip hop. Bringing together the tale of the author's discovery' of an ancient scroll hidden beneath a graffiti masterpeice in an abandoned subway line along with the journal writings and popular performance pieces, The Dead Emcee Scrolls is a darkly humorous, electrifying tour de force as only Saul Williams could produce. Saul is every kind of great artist combined into one.' - Nas'

Award-winning poet and performer Saul Williams explores how artists today must respond to systemic violence and injustice—in the words of Paul Robeson, by choosing sides.Songs My Mother Taught Me is Williams’ clear-eyed exploration of the role of the artist in these times by answering the question: what radicalized you? He answers by examining how his role models—writers and artists, from Amiri Baraka to local musicians in Brazilian bars to Palestinian hip-hop heads—have responded to imperialist violence, oppression, and genocide. Riffing on Paul Robeson’s famous declaration, Williams builds a provocative case for why today’s artists cannot remain neutral in the face of injustice. “We need songs that crumble empires,” he writes, “films that teach, remind, and inspire, poems that would make a despot revoke your citizenship.”The radical artists of the Vanguard Series offer new poetry and prose to answer the question, What does poetry have to do with politics?