Youth Speaks is a spoken word and literary arts organization for young people. In 1997, Youth Speaks hosted its first ever poetry slam for teenagers, not knowing that it was only the beginning of what would become a global movement. Committed to a critical, youth-centered pedagogy, Youth Speaks places young people in control of their intellectual and artistic development. We are urgently driven by the belief that literacy is a need, not a want, and that literacy comes in various forms.Youth Speaks is a spoken word and literary arts organization for young people. In 1997, Youth Speaks hosted its first ever poetry slam for teenagers, not knowing that it was only the beginning of what would become a global movement. Committed to a critical, youth-centered pedagogy, Youth Speaks places young people in control of their intellectual and artistic development. We are urgently driven by the belief that literacy is a need, not a want, and that literacy comes in various forms.