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Mark Goggins was born in Charleston, S.C. on October 13, 1966 during the latter stages of the Civil Rights movement and during the birth of what became known as the Black Power movement.

He graduated from Middleton high school in 1985 and joined the U.S. Army where he served four years as a cavalry scout trained in reconaissance and surveillance. He began writing poetry in the early 1990's as a way to express his innermost feelings about the racism and discrimination he encountered and saw others encounter.

Several years earlier he was introduced to a recording of Malcolm X by a fellow soldier in the army and it was love at first listen. However, Malcolm was dead and Mark felt dismayed that he knew of no living Black person who spoke the way Malcolm spoke. That is until he heard the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan around 1992. Farrakhan's delivery of Elijah Muhammad's teachings resonated so deeply that Mark decided to incorporate some of those teachings into poetry form.

Mark had always loved hip-hop but hated the direction hip-hop was headed as "gangsta rap" started to dominate the airwaves. Mark was a frequent attendee at Nation of Islam mosques in S.C. and became the radio-voice of the Nation in the months preceding the Million Man March which Mark attended.


Mark was also an activist in Charleston participating in marches and protests. He has also been a contributing writer of poetry and articles for the Charleston Chronicle for over a decade. It was after the Million Man March that Mark committed to doing a book of poetry highlighting the plight of the suffering Black masses.

His dream of writing a book of poetry came true in April 2005 in the form of his debut book, "Catalyst For A Black Revolution." The debut book was critically-acclaimed and garnered Mark numerous radio interviews, awards, book signings, and speaking engagements. Never one to rest on his laurels, Mark released the highly-anticipated follow-up in June 2007, titled, 'The Revolution Ain't Dead!', which also won him praise.



Out of a desire to give back to the poetry world, Mark created an internet on-line poetry forum called, The Black Poetry Cafe in March 2005.(www.theblackpoetrycafe.com) Since that time, the site has had as many as 4,000 members join its ranks and has become one of the most widely-known and successful poetry forums on the web. Dissatisfied with just an internet connection for the BPC poets, Mark created what is now known as 'BPC PoetryFest'.These annual spoken word events brings together poets from the BPC website as well as local poets in the host city. Mark went on to host an internet radio show called 'The Black Experience' from 2007-2008 where he featured poets, spoken word artists, and also dealt with issues affecting the Black community. Mark is currently hard at work on his third book scheduled for release in 2010, and has plans for a spoken word cd release as well. He is also the CEO of The Black Poetry Cafe and the newly-created BPC Entertainment, LLC created to host spoken word shows around the country.