JESSICA CARE MOORE IS ONE OF THE LEADING VOICES OF HER GENERATION. AN AWARD-WINNING POET, RECORDING ARTIST, BOOK PUBLISHER, ACTIVIST, CULTURAL ARTS CURATOR, AND FILMMAKER, SHE IS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND FOUNDER OF BLACK WOMEN ROCK! – DAUGHTERS OF BETTY, A 20-YEAR-OLD ROCK & ROLL INSTITUTION, CONCERT AND EMPOWERMENT WEEKEND, AND SHE IS THE FOUNDER OF THE LITERACY DRIVEN 501C3, THE MOORE ART HOUSE. HER NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION IN DETROIT DEDICATED TO ELEVATING LITERACY THROUGH THE ARTS IN NEIGHBORHOODS AND SCHOOLS.
Moore’s publishing house, Moore Black Press, has published poets including Saul Williams, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, asha bandele, and Danny Simmons, and in 2024 is preparing to publish their first poetry and spoken word audiobooks through an imprint deal with HarperCollins. Throughout her career, moore has mentored youth across the United States and has lent her voice and time to juvenile detention centers, prisons, universities, and art institutions and global community causes around the world.
In 2023 Moore became the new voice of Pure Michigan and was commissioned to write a series of visual poems to celebrate the city and the state. Her poem, “I Am Detroit Summer” received tremendous adoration from Detroiters from all walks of life who felt as if the campaign truly celebrated the beautiful, working-class people of their city. In 2022, Gucci sought after jessica’s gift, and commissioned her to write the poem, “We Wear The Working Day” as a homage to Detroiters and their style and work ethic. A stanza of the poem graced the side of the Siren Hotel for an entire year and she would later be a judge for the next muralist.
Moore has recorded her poetry with hip-hop legends including Common, Nas, Jeezy, Talib Kweli,Karriem Riggins, Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills and Eddie Fowkles, The Last Poets, Jose James, Roy Ayers and more. Moore is the author of The Words Don’t Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto, God is Not an American, and Sunlight Through Bullet Holes. Her fifth book, We Want Our Bodies Back (HarperCollins, 2020) won the American Library Association Black Caucus Poetry Honor. Her first children’s book, Her Crown Shines (illustrated by Dare Coulter), is slated to be published by HarperCollins in 2025. Moore’s poem for the Supreme Court Justice caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who shared it widely on her social media pages.
Moore’s full-scale theatrical work, Salt City, a futurist techno choreopoem, premiered at The Apollo Theater last April. She was recently awarded The Marlowe Stoudamire Award for Innovation and Community Collaboration from The Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She was honored to recently receive her third Spirit of Detroit Award, The Legend Award from Detroit Public Schools, A Hero Award in the Cultural Arts category from The Torch of Wisdom Foundation, The Trailblazing Poet Award from Words, Beats Life in Washington DC. Appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Moore serves on the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. She is the 2024 Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 Marlowe Stoudamire Award Recipient, She is a 2019 and 2017 Knight Arts Recipient, a 2018 Joyce Award Winner, 2016 Kresge Artist Fellow, the 2013 Alain Locke Award Recipient, and the 2015 NAACP Great Expectation Award Recipient.
Moore’s anticipated rock & roll project is a collaboration with powerhouse rock singer Steffanie Christ’ian. The duo’s album (and group name), We Are Scorpio, is slated for release in June 2024 on Talib Kweli’s Javotti Media label and Moore’s Black Women Rock! Company.
In 2023, Moore was invited by the family of Malcolm X to read her work at the Shabazz Center, alongside Angela Davis and Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump. She has read her poems and lent her powerful voice to meaningful causes around the world including the United Nations World AIDS Day, Shanghai’s Iron Mic music festival, Berlin’s international poetry festival, Brazil’s Flupp Literary Festival, and Ghana’s Afrochella festival. Her work has graced the stages of renowned venues including the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Charles H. Wright Museum, and The Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
The ambitious poet is in post-production with her first feature film, He Looked Like A Postcard (directed by Qasim Basir), which Moore produced, wrote, and performed in with co-star Tobias Truvillion. The film is a love letter to Detroit, featuring several muralists and painters in the city through the lead character, “Motown.
Moore captivated a national television audience in the ‘90s when she won the legendary It’s Showtime at the Apollo competition a record-breaking five times in a row—with a poem. Moore’s poetry and voice is prominently featured on the fourth floor of the Smithsonian’s New National Museum of African American History and Culture. A proud Detroiter, Moore lives in the city with her son King, an emerging musician, writer, and actor.