The Official Website of Poet Synnika A. Lofton

WHO IS SYNNIKA ALEK-CHIZOBA LOFTON?

Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award-winning poet, educator, and author. Lofton is the author of more than thirty collections of poetry, three novels, and one work of nonfiction. His poems have appeared in Clockworks Magazine, Revenge, UpStreet, Experience Reality Magazine, Quay, Dissident Voice, and Blue-Collar Review. Lofton has recorded hundreds of singles, EPs, and albums of spoken word poetry.

After graduating from Canyon Hills High School (formerly Serra High School) in San Diego, California, in 1997, he spent two years writing and studying before attending Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, in 2000, where he studied poetry and creative writing. In 2004, he received a BA with a concentration in Creative Writing. His intent was to study for an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at San Diego State University. Instead, he enrolled in Goddard College’s M.F.A. in Creative Writing program and graduated in 2006. He started an independent publishing company called Guerrilla Ignition LLC shortly after graduating from the program, which has served as his main publishing house. He produces books at a rapid pace for his poetry collective Mailbox Book Club. He believes poetry is transformative and should not be tucked away or given to a reluctant publisher, who may or may not publish it.

Lofton currently tours and performs at literary festivals, coffee shops, libraries, and schools. He teaches poetry workshops, and has held teaching positions at Renaissance Academy, Chesapeake Bay Academy, Norfolk State University, and Virginia Wesleyan University.