Artists

Celebrated dub poet and spoken word icon, as well as scholar and historian, who served as the 7th Poet Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Dub poet, award-winning theatre artist and innovator of the dub theatre form, established b-current performance arts in Toronto, Canada.

Grammy-nominated surrealist blues poet, musician, cultural worker, and author of My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter.

Poet, producer, co-founder of the Northern Griots Network, and the 1st Poet of Honour of the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

Trinidad-born, U.K-based poet, musician and author of T.S. Elliot Poetry Prize-winning Sonnets for Albert.

Spoken word artist, educator and winner of the Canadian League of Poets: Golden Beret Award for album Soulorations.

Award-winning musician, producer, founding member of Uganda’s legendary hip hop group Bataka Squad, and founder of the Bavubuka Foundation.

Description Pending

Published poet, performer, slam champion and author of four poetry collections including the award-winning Bluff.

Internationally acclaimed dub poet, playwright-performer, director-dramaturge, activist-scholar, and founding director of Watah Theatre and the Black Theatre School.

Two-time Canadian National Poetry Slam Champion, spoken word poet and producer, and founder of Up From The Roots.

Governor General Award-winning, Africadian poet, librettist, scholar and pioneer of the study of African Canadian literature.

From World Poetry Slam champion to writer, director and multi-media artist producing works on stage and screen.

Griffin Poetry prize-winning artist, sound performer and novelist based in Montreal of Guyanese roots, whose experimental and mixed media compositions have been presented internationally.

Renowned Virginia-based rapper, lyricist and Hip Hop storyteller, Grammy Award-nominated for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.

Description Pending

Poet, reggae artiste, social commentator and radio talk show host, highlighting Pan-Africanism and Rastafari in numerous published and recorded works.

Tobago-born, Canada-based poet, writer, and author of the renowned dramatized poem cycle Zong!

Jamaican-born poet and a founding voice of the movement he dubbed “Dub Poetry.”

Spoken word artist, author, poet laureate and founder of R.I.S.E Edutainment, one of Toronto’s longest running youth led initiatives.

Poet, writer, musician, director, CSA-nominated actor and author of graphic novel Martyr, Loser, King.

Internationally-recognized actor, playwright and published dub poet, and a founding member of The No-Maddz, Jamaican art collective and dub poetry band.

Poet, activist, scholar and distinguished voice of the Black Arts Movement, multi-awarded for a lifetime of service to American poetry.

Poet, performer and activist, co-writer of Tony Award-winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and featured in acclaimed documentary In Our Mother’s Tongues.

Canadian poet, novelist, artist and Ashid known for her innovative work blending poetry, orality, music and multimedia.

Description Pending

Description Pending

African-American spoken word collective fusing jazz, funk and poetry, established during the Black Arts Movement.

Ivorian-Ghanian poet, author, video artist, and founder of Inkfluent, the Nkobom Festival and Slam Ghana.