Expression Love&Passion (The Best Soul Music on Radio)  

    K.L. Shanks a.k.a. Queen Unique

          Author ∙ Poet ∙ Spoken Word Artist

Katrina L. Shanks a.k.a. Queen Unique was raised in a small city where creativity such as the arts and poetry was taboo.  It was not "hip" to be artsy and different in Fort Myers, Florida.  While the children in her neighborhood wanted to play house, sports and to dance...Katrina wanted to play school, write and read.  This soon made her an outcast to the other kids and her social involvement decreased. Eventually Katrina conformed to her friends and neighbors beliefs and suppressed this true gift that was granted to her by the Creator.

After experiencing many of life's ups and downs Katrina secretly continued to use poetry as her private outlet and as a result, her talent continued to flourish.  In late 2005 (as corny as it may sound) Katrina had hit rock bottom and resorted to a simple prayer over a fortune cookie.  Her faith in God and herself had been tarnished to a point where she believed in only what was tangible.   She asked the Lord to make the paper in that cookie deliver any message that she may not be hearing from Him because her senses had been impaired by worldly things.  When she opened that cookie, it read, "Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams."   This   simple epiphany helped her to emerge from her shell, restore her faith into the “Invisible to do the Impossible” and finally release her passion to the masses.  In 2007, Queen Unique published her first book, "A Mile in My Heels: A Personal Compilation of Wordplay", is currently working on the second book, "The Tracks of Life: Inside-Out", her third book which is a fiction novel, "Chastity Belt" and her fourth book which is a young girls’ motivational short-story series, "This Little Light of Mine" with illustrations by her daughters.  She is also recording her debut spoken word C.D. trilogy, "Queen Speaks: Spirit, Heart and Body", is the co-owner/hostess of a vocal and visual performing arts venue, "Acoustic Affairs", is implementing her own book club, "Erudite Aphrodite", and runs her freelance journalism and creative writing company, "Queen's Pen" and airs a monthly online radio talk show at BlogTalkRadio.com all while being a very involved mother.  Queen was recently a featured speaker at The Bridge Youth Center, has written articles for magazines, done various radio interviews, has an upcoming interview on Lee Pitts Live scheduled for May 2008 and was recognized as TimBookTu.com's writer of the month for March 2008.  Katrina has been writing since the age of nine and her key weapons are the power of her voice, her unabashed honesty, confidence, style and uninhibited viewpoint.

Ms. Shanks is a volunteer for the N.A.A.C.P., a member of the National Black Writers and Artist Association, Black on Black Rhyme, The Black Poetry Café, and plays a role in many other companies.  She is a single mother of two girls whom she takes pride in being their role model and is also a full time student working towards her degree in Graphic Design.  Queen is married to reality, therefore, she can compose a diverse array of prose ranging from love and sex to heritage and black history...from religion and politics to life and parenting so obviously, there is no limit to her subject matter.    What Queen Unique does is in a genre of its’ own.  It bridges the gaps between all styles into that perfect equilibrium.  Her spirituality dashes a hint of gospel, her heritage and ethnicity brings the depth of soul and jazz, heartache and love dashes in the flavor of R&B and her beauty, intellect and sexuality are undeniable. All of these components plus more combine to make her into true spoken word royalty. 

This is QUEEN UNIQUE.