Meet Jourdan Imani Keith, a Black Arts Legacies 2023 awardee, served as Seattle's Civic Poet from 2019 to 2022. Her acclaimed essays "Desegregating Wilderness" and "At Risk" have been featured in Forbes, NPR, and the Best American Science and Nature Writing Anthology. As the founder of the Urban Wilderness Project, Jourdan leads the R U An Endangered Species™ Women and Whales First: Poetry in a Climate of Change campaign. Recognized with the 2022 US Water Alliance Outstanding Artist prize and a 2018 Americans for the Arts award, her TEDx Talk, "Your Body of Water," inspired King County's 2016-2018 Poetry on Buses theme.

Jourdan stopped by The Day With Trae to discuss her play, The Uterine Files Trilogy, which explores themes of womanhood, identity, and resilience. The trilogy merges poetic elements with theatrical performance to address issues such as reproductive rights and personal agency, sparking critical conversations about contemporary womanhood. Jourdan is a renowned storyteller, essayist, playwright, naturalist, and activist, Jourdan has received numerous accolades, including the University of Washington MLK 2011 Distinguished Service Award. Her commissioned works have been showcased at the Northwest African American Museum and Seattle Art Museum. A keeper of culture in the Griot tradition, her fellowships include Hedgebrook, Wildbranch, Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop, VONA, and Jack Straw. With multiple commissions and awards from the University of Washington, Artist Trust, 4Culture, and Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture, her memoir in essays, "Tugging at the Web," is forthcoming from the University of Washington Press.