Summer Hill Seven was born in Albany, NY in 1965 and given the name Raymond Bernard Larkins. He would change his name many times. He moved to Tallahassee, FL in 2012 and returned to Stockton University in January 2023, where he currently lives as an Artist-in-Residence. Summer Hill Seven is the former president of the Big Bend Poets & Writers based in Tallahassee, FL. He is the author of the Poemedy Trilogy, a three volume work that introduces the particulars of the poetic form known as poemedy. Two of his haikus are in the Voice of Trees Project, a public art installation, made possible in partnership with Italian artist Giovanna Iorio. The Voices of Trees Project is an effort to preserve the voices of poets and link their work to the landscape. Tallahassee and New York City, the only United States locations, join a global Voice of Trees community which includes Italy, France, England, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Greenland, Ireland, Spain, Japan and the Netherlands. Both of these haikus are published in Autobiography of Ray-Ray & Other Ancient Ideas Like Hip-Hop. He was the first Black president and first two-term president of the student senate at Stockton University, where he is an Honors graduate with a degree in political science and a certification in African-American studies in 1987 and is presently completing a Masters of Arts in American Studies. He graduated from the New York University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. He graduated from the University of Delaware with a Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP). He is an alumnus of Princeton University's school of Public Policy, State University of New York, Binghamton's Graduate Theatre program and the Rand Graduate School of Public Policy. He graduated from elementary school at Philip Schuyler Elementary School in Albany, NY and High School at the Sister Clara Muhammad School in Philadelphia, PA. He has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Arsht Center, Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Historic Asolo Theatre, Roselle Center for the Arts and many other venues.
