Featured in The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Reader, on WBEZ, WTTW, FoxSoul, and on international television and radio, Nikki Patin has been writing, performing, educating, and advocating for over two decades. She has taught workshops on performance poetry, body image, sexual assault prevention and LGBT issues for over 20 years.
Patin has performed, taught and spoken at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Cook County Jail, Rikers Island prison, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, EXPO Chicago, Black Artists Retreat, Brooklyn Museum, and the National Black Theater in Harlem and many other spaces throughout the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia.
In 2014, Patin addressed the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on behalf of Black women survivors of sexual violence in the U.S. Nikki Patin holds an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the University of Southern Maine. She is the founder of Surviving the Mic, a survivor-led organization that curates performances and workshops for survivors of trauma, as well as the Executive Director of Calling All Crows, which connects the music industry and music fans to feminist and social justice movements. Patin’s debut memoir, Working on Me, is forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press in April, 2024.
Nikki Patin 
Nikki! Yesterday my English teacher showed me your video “sweat”. You don’t understand how inspired i felt! I couldn’t hear the words quite well over the loud roaring of the class. But as soon as i saw the title, i wrote it down. Gurl, work it cause i know you have the power ❤ Those few words i heard from you just brought me to like poetry. & Let me tell you how much i hate(d) poetry. Is there any way i could view/ read the video/ lyrics?
Best to you, Nikki.
Hi Nikki,
Thought you’d like to know I’ve just nominated you for “Inspiring Blog Award” and “One Lovely Blog Award” Here’s how it works: you state 7 facts about yourself and nominate 15 bloggers you like. If you want to give me a shout out, too, that’s awesome and very much appreciated. Here’s where you can find my post nominating you http://thesaltwatertwin.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/pretty-fancy/
xo
I cried when I read your poem “Surviving Something…” yesterday in the June 11th The Reader. You gave voice, in ink, to many words I’ve heard uttered throughout my 50 something yrs. Most of the times they hurt me deeply, but when I read YOUR words, it felt strange, almost bittersweet. Your art, your work is relevatory.