Cedrik O. Wallace

Cedrik O'Brian Wallace lives in Los Angeles, California. He was raised in northern California and left for LA to attend Whittier College where he studied Anthropology, Social Work, Communications, and Education. He also did work for the college radio station and the college newspaper. For the radio, he cohosted a late night Hip Hop show. For the newspaper, he cowrote a weekly column where he discussed his views on what was going on at the college campus as well as in society. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree he went on to earn his teaching credential and a Master of Science degree in Special Education. He is now a twenty-plus year educator for Los Angeles Unified School District. After surviving his fight with Multiple Myeloma cancer, a blood cancer that he was diagnosed with in 2012, he was inspired to write. He started writing thoughts and short form poetry in 2014. He took to Instagram to share his words to the world under the name, @poeticesoldier and the writing community responded. He was voted into the "TOP 100 INSPIRING INSTAGRAMMERS OF 2017", a list compiled by Untwine ME, an Arts and Humanities website. He went on to become a curator for the site. Cedrik has now authored and self-published two books. The first being, Why I Cry Burgundy Tears, a personal testimony and poetry collection revolving around his bout with cancer. The second, It's My Write, is a collection of thoughts and poetry discussing his personal experiences with and views on; relationships, family, education, work place, death, politics, self love, and racism. He is also a co-author of It Hurts by Magesoul Publishing out of New York. It Hurts is book one of a trilogy of anthologies. Cedrik's work can be found in various other publications such at the anthology Yellow by Yellow Penguin NYC, Poetica and WOMb (two anthologies by Bymepoetry Aus), and an arts magazine, Genre Urban Arts No. 4 by Genre: Urban Arts. Cedrik continues to fight for his life by living it as he writes, educates, and inspires. Will you join him? Remember, no one fights alone!