J.R RICE is a Black man, writer, teacher, and spoken word artist who was born and raised in Oakland, California. He has a B.A in Creative Writing and an English Education teaching credential from California State University Long Beach. Upon attending CSULB, he earned the Rookie of the Year award at the 2005 National Collegiate Poetry Slam in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While studying abroad in Paros, Greece, he was mentored by the author, George Crane. He has two unpublished manuscripts in a book series following the Black-American narrator, Jonah Tarver: BROKEN PENCILS, a coming-of-age novella, and I WAS, AM, WILL BE, a collection of short stories, poetry, and travel essays. J.R Rice currently resides and teaches in the Bay Area.https://linktr.ee/Imjrice