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Lillian Allen Lillian Allen moved from Spanish Town, Jamaica to North America in the late '60s. She studied in New York City and in Toronto and later emerged as a major influential figure on Canada's cultural landscape. An internationally acclaimed poet, she is recognized as a key originator and a leading exponent of dub poetry. As well, she is a writer of plays and short fiction. She writes for both adults and young people. She frequently travels across Canada and the United States and has toured Europe, the Caribbean and England, lecturing and performing. She is an award winning recording artist and has received two Canadian Juno Awards for her poetry with music. She has also worked in film and co-produced / co-directed Blak Wi Blakk, a film on Jamaican Rastafarian dub poet Mutabaruka. Allen has been a consultant and advisor on issues of diversity, equity, organizational responsiveness, and community building. She has been a member of the City of Toronto arts and cultural reference group for the City's new Official Plan, has developed a cultural diversity strategy for the City's Culture Division, and has been a member of the Canada Council for the Arts Racial Equity Advisory. Klyde Broox Klyde Broox, a.k.a.Durm-I, is an internationally seasoned dubpoet. He published his first poem in 1972 and by the 1980Õs had established himself as one of JamaicaÕs most promising poets, travelling to the U.K. and the United States to do readings, workshops and guest lectures. In 1989, Klyde launched a chapbook of poetry, ÒPoemstorm,Óin Swansea, Wales. He was a James Michener Fellow at the University of Miami in 1993 and has earned himself a reputation as one of the significant contributors to the development of Jamaican poetry. He is currently a member of the Dub Poets Collective. Klyde Broox migrated to Canada in 1993, and met the challenges of resettlement by focusing more and more on his poetry. Over the years, Klyde has developed into a superb performer blending speech, song, dance and mime into a powerful and passionate presentation that is inspirational, entertaining and thought provoking. Since 1996, Klyde has established himself as an Òinfluential literary entity Ó in the City of Hamilton and was nominated in 2004 for a John C. Holland award for community service. He is also active in the Toronto community and coordinated the 2004, International Dub Poetry Festival. A former teacher, with sixteen years Jamaican teaching experience, Klyde has begun to make appearances in public schools. He also hosts PoeMagic, a popular performance-based open-mic series, at Hamiltonns Staircase Cafe, on the third Friday of each month. KlydeÕs first major collection, My Best Friend Is White, will be published this fall by McGilligan Books of Toronto. Salimah Valiani Born in Calgary, Canada, Salimah Valiani is a poet, activist, and researcher of world historical political economy. Active in the international anti-Apartheid movement during the1980s, she also worked in Cape Town in 2004-2005, witnessing the ten year anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa. Her experience as an advocate of economic justice spans three continents Ð Africa, Asia and North America Ð bringing a unique perspective to her poetry and other writing. Her first collection of poetry, breathing for breadth, was published by TSAR Publications in 2005. The second, Letter Out : Letter In was published in 2009 by Inanna Publications. Shane Koyczan Shane Koyczan is one of the world's premier spoken word performers. His book, Visiting Hours, was hailed as a Books of the Year Selection by The Guardian (UK) and the Globe and Mail (Canada) newspapers. Shane was featured in Quill & Quire magazine in May 2006. Born and raised in northwestern Canada, Shane was the first poet from outside the USA to win the prestigious USA National Individual Poetry Slam. He has performed to full houses around the world - from university amphitheaters to the most respected music and literary festivals. He has rocked the stage at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the Vancouver International Writers Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the 2007 Canada Day Celebrations in Ottawa.
Dwayne Morgan Dwayne Morgan began his career as a spoken word artist in 1993. In 1994, he founded Up From The Roots entertainment, to promote the positive artistic contributions of African Canadian and urban influenced artists. In 1998, Morgan received both the African Canadian Achievement Award, and the Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in the Arts. He is also the winner of 3 Canadian Urban Music Awards (2001, 2003, 2005). In 2005 he was recognized as Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Vancouver, and in 2008 MorganÕs contribution to the Arts and Canadian society were recognized on the Official Black History Month poster. Ritallin Greg Frankson a.k.a. Ritallin is a spoken word artist and arts educator based in Ottawa. He co-founded Capital Slam, Canada's second longest running poetry slam series, and is the immediate past National Director for Spoken Word Canada, organizers of the annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. He is also the Poet Laureate for the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership and National Director of the Artists' Alliance for Mental Health Canada. Greg released Capital Thoughts, a spoken word EP recording, in 2005, and his debut poetry collection Cerebral Stimulation was released by BeWrite Books in 2006. Ritallin has published three chapbooks and was a contributor to the Mic Check spoken word anthology by Quattro Books in 2008. Greg is currently working on his second recording of a cappella poems, Poet Psychology Vol. I, due for release in fall 2010. Through his creative services company Cytopoetics, Greg works in schools and the community as a presenter and performer, and with businesses and social services organizations as a facilitator, emcee, keynote speaker and creative services consultant. That Brown Bastard That Brown Bastard! (Rahul Gupta) is a semi-professional poet and journalist. He has appeared in various reading series, poetry slams, high schools and polka halls all over North America. He is a founding member of the Toronto Poetry Project and always on the guest list for the Toronto Poetry Slam. He is the token brown guy in the Last Call Poets support group/poetry troupe, co-founder of seminal spoken word oddities The StrapOns and lik.
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