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Writer * Spoken Word Poet * Teaching Artist * Editor * Critic * Lovable Weirdo Extraordinaire
J.B. Stone
J.B. Stone (he/they), or sometimes going by the government name, Jared Benjamin is a Neurodivergent/Autistic spoken word poet, teaching artist, critic, amateur playwright, and writer, from Brooklyn, NY now residing in Buffalo, NY. They serve as Founding EIC/Reviews Editor at Variety Pack. He is also the author of three chapbooks, including Fireflies And Hand Grenades (Bottlecap Press 2020). Nominated for the Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and Best Small Fictions Anthologies; J.B.’s writing has appeared or forthcoming in The McNeese Review, Ghost Parachute, Hawaii Pacific Review, BULL, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Citron Review, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Blue Earth Review, Rain Taxi, Los Angeles Review, Chicago Review of Books, Atticus Review, among many more, J.B. won Button Poetry’s 2024 Short Form Poetry Contest, and was longlisted for CRAFT Literary’s inaugural Character Sketch Contest in 2023. He was recently a semifinalist in Alien Buddha Press‘s House of Horrors Showdown.
Along with his writing, J.B. has performed, featured, showcased his spoken word poetry across the U.S. & Canada. He has also won, and placed in various slams across North America, including Guelph Poetry Slam, Hamilton Poetry Slam, Pure Ink Poetry Slam, and recent accolades in Spellbound’s Marley Mayhem Slam, and the Barrio Poetry Slam at Sheas 710 Theater. J.B. for the last four years has represented Buffalo as part of team Pure Ink Poetry, at the National level, competing alongside Buffalo’s finest spoken word poets at Southern Fried Poetry Slam Fest, one of the largest slam poetry festivals in North America!
J.B. Stone 