J.R. Rice

Once upon a time, in the bustling city of Oakland, California, there was a man named J.R Rice. He was a Black man with a passion for writing, teaching, and spoken word artistry. J.R had always been captivated by the power of words and their ability to inspire, motivate and transform lives. As a young man, he knew that he wanted to make a difference in the world through his writing and his ability to connect with people. After receiving his B.A in Creative Writing and an English Education teaching credential from California State University of Long Beach, J.R set out to pursue his dreams. He traveled abroad to Greece, where he had the honor of being mentored by the renowned author, George Crane. It was there that he honed his skills and developed his unique voice, which he would later use to inspire and empower countless others. His novella, Broken Pencils earned the 2024 Literary Titan Gold Book Award, the Literary Global Gold Award, 2024 Hawthorne Prize finalist, a finalist in both Best African-American Literature and Best Debut Fiction for the 2024 Independent Author Awards, and Third place in Best African-American Literature and Best New Fiction in the 2024 Firebird Book Award contest. In addition to his writing accolades, he earned the Rookie of the Year award at the 2005 National Collegiate Poetry Slam in Philadelphia. He was a Semi-Finalist in the 2023 Berkeley Poetry Slam Finals.