A Russian diplomat once called me, “ the quintessential American”
Steven Leake was born in 1986 in Charlotte, North Carolina to two public school teachers. He grew up on his family’s farm in York, South Carolina where he was an ace pitcher for his local high school team and was named all region and defensive MVP in 2004. He graduated high school with honors then was appointed to The United States Military Academy at West Point as a part of the first post 9/11 class but had to withdraw due to an illness. He then attended Winthrop University for creative writing In 2007, also becoming a semi finalist for the PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship. He then moved to Charleston, South Carolina with a group of hometown friends who all began working food and beverage jobs and lived together. The next four years would be the raw material for Steven’s first novel “Gethsemane”. In 2017 Steven was recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center for advocating tolerance in his work. In 2022 Steven’s piece “Truth” appeared in print in the North Carolina Bards 2022 Anthology. The next year “ Soft Days” was also published in the anthology. Steven has been published most faithfully by Beatnik Cowboy and The Black Book Press. Steven continues to write and develop poetry and fiction , while also writing music and recording music at Sovereign Sound Studio and has released an acoustic demo album “Truth is Power” available on Spotify as well as some electric demos. Steven has started managing and designing a fashion brand for based and alt-right content called Monarch UrbanWear Ltd. He manages a libertarian political action committee Americans for Economic Independence, which supports libertarian and freedom minded candidates in South Carolina.