Jeff Woodke

Jeff Woodke, known as The Ransomed Poet, is a writer and spoken-word poet based in McKinleyville, California, in Humboldt County. Held hostage by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in northern Mali for six and a half years — the longest-held American hostage — he was released in March 2023 and turned to poetry to process captivity, trauma, loss, and forgiveness. His candid, rhyme-driven verse explores grief, faith, survival, and hope, and he reads regularly at spoken-word and church events across the North Coast. His memoir All the Way Home was published by HarperCollins/Zondervan in September 2026.