Biography

Umohowet Taushi Yelayu is an independent writer, pianist, composer & poet who has received recognition, grants, & funding from The Academy of American Poets, Sundance Institute, Artadia, Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, National YoungArts Foundation, United States Artists, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Amazon Literary Partnership, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ford Foundation, & The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. His debut collection of poetry, a full-length volume entitled Erstwhile Orbits & Newformed Spheres, was published in 2019. As a freelance journalist, he is a contributor to the Forbes-recognized Blavity®, a new-media and tech company for forward thinking Black millennials pushing the boundaries of culture and the status quo. He maintains a personalized brand on Medium®, one of the largest social journalism platforms in the world with 60 million unique readers per month.

Yelayu studied classical piano under Maestra N. Kurtz, a student of noted virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor Maestro Rudolph Ganz. He also received certification in Classical Music of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Century from Harvard University, with instruction from Thomas Forrest Kelly, the Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music. As a classically-trained pianist, Yelayu performs classical repertoire in solo, ensemble, and concert. He composes for solo-piano and orchestra, and his first volume of compositions will be published in Summer 2025 alongside the debut of his Piano Concerto. His debut album, The Speisinger Studio Sessions will be released in the 2024-2025 Music Season, while his first volume of compositions will be available in the 2025-2026 Music Season. As musician, songwriter, and singer, Yelayu creates musical sketches and songs which often tie into his poetry.

Professionally, Yelayu is a former educator and nonprofit administrator. He worked as a Social-Emotional-Learning Climate & Culture Coordinator for Chicago Public Schools, the fourth largest school district in the United States. Before that, he was an Administrator for an educational nonprofit partnership between, among others, the University of Chicago and the Children’s Defense Fund.

Yelayu is currently a student at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In his free time, Yelayu teaches martial arts and yoga.