Curator Bio: Marlanda Dekine
Marlanda Dekine (Spoken Word) is Sapient Soul, an award-winning Poet and social transformation worker, currently residing in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Furman University and her Master of Social Work from the University of South Carolina. Marlanda has served as a therapist, consultant, group facilitator, and forensic evaluator for individuals, children, and families across South Carolina.
Marlanda’s poetry can be found in Flycatcher Journal, Wake Magazine, Spark & Echo, and The New Social Worker. In 2012, she released her second album, SOULidifying Borrowed Concepts. She is the Founder of Furman University’s Poetry Club, Poetic Noise, as well as the Co-Founder of Spoken Word Spartanburg (www.spokenwordspartanburg.com), a nonprofit organization bringing awareness to the spoken word art form across the Upstate of South Carolina. Currently, Marlanda is the Founder and Executive Director of Speaking Down Barriers, a nonprofit that transforms our life together across our differences. She is working on a poetry project entitled “A Punch & A Kiss”, naming the ongoing trauma and psychic abuse caused by racism and racial injustice in the United States.
Marlanda is true to the meaning of her stage name, Sapient Soul. She believes that every word she shares with others has been dipped in the wisdom and truth given to her. She believes that art holds the healing power of transforming both people and spaces.
She was also a Spark+Echo Arts Artist in Residence for 2020.