Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai is a spoken word artist who has been featured in 325 performances worldwide at venues including the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the House of Blues, the Apollo Theater, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and three seasons of the award-winning Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry. The author of Inside Outside Outside Inside (2004) and Thought Crimes (2005) and the CD Infinity Breaks (2006), Tsai has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Amiri Baraka, and many more. Tsai is the author of three poetry chapbooks. Her poetry and essays have been widely published and anthologized. She was awarded an Urban Artists Initiative Fellowship via the Asian American Arts Alliance in 2007. In 2008, the Idealist named Tsai as one of their ”New York 40“—the top New Yorkers who make a positive impact in the five boroughs. In 2009, AngryAsianMan.com named Tsai as one of the "30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30." Yellowgurl.com