Buddy Wakefield was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and raised in Baytown, Texas. In 2001, he left his position as an executive assistant for a biomedical firm in Gig Harbor, Washington, sold or gave away everything he owned, and moved into a Honda Civic to tour North American poetry venues.

In 2004 and again in 2005, Buddy Wakefield won the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship title, becoming the first poet to win the title two consecutive years. Wakefield has been a member of several slam poetry teams, including Team Seattle in 2006 and 2007.

Wakefield continues to make his living through his poetry and performance. In addition to touring the country solo, Wakefield has also been a core member of several traveling poetry groups, including 2007's Solomon Sparrow's Electric Whale Revival, 2008's Junkyard Ghost Revival, 2009's Elephant Engine High Dive Revival and 2010's Night Kite Revival, where he shared the stage with poets such as Derrick Brown, Anis Mojgani, Andrea Gibson and Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, among others.

When not on tour, Wakefield lives in Seattle, Washington. He currently serves on the board of Youth Speaks Seattle, a non-profit literary arts organization.

Wakefield has published two books of poetry: Some They Can't Contain (2004, originally The Wordsmith Press; reissued by Write Bloody Publishing) and Live for a Living (2007, Write Bloody Publishing).

Wakefield has also released three full-length spoken word albums. In 1999, he self-produced A Stretch of Presence. In 2006, Run On Anything was produced and released by Strange Famous Records.

In 2009, Live at the Typer Cannon Grand was produced and released by Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records. The album contains both studio-produced tracks and recordings of live performances, including several from Wakefield's numerous times opening for DiFranco on her tour.

Wakefield has had a profound impact on the contemporary poetry slam movement, both in his performance and writing style as well as how he has conducted his career. In her book, Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz named Wakefield as "the modern poetry slam role model." She wrote,

• Live For A Living, Write Bloody Publishing, 2007
• Some They Can't Contain, Write Bloody Publishing, 2004

Anthologies

• Elephant Engine High Dive Revival, Write Bloody Publishing, 2008.
• Junkyard Ghost Revival, Write Bloody Publishing, 2008.
• Illustrated poems to seduce and destroy, Write Bloody Publishing, 2008.
• Spoken Word Revolution Redux, Sourcebook, Inc, 2008.
• Solomon Sparrow's Electric Whale Revival, Write Bloody Publishing, 2007.
• Freedom To Speak: The Best of the 2002 National Poetry Slam, The Wordsmith Press, 2003.