A Tribute to Louise Simone Bennett on Friday!

Colonizin In Reverse
Friday March 9, 2007 at 8pm (Doors open 7pm)
William Doo Auditorium. 45 Willcocks Street.
Wheelchair Accessible

Colonizin In Reverse is a fun filled event being held in honour of Dub legend Louise Simone Bennett. Featuring performances by Lillian Allen, Owen Blaka Ellis, Maud Fuller, Denise Jones, Mervyn Morris, Quammie Williams and the Jump Music Collective, Mutabaruka, Djanet Sears and the Toronto Mass Choir. So come on out. You wont be disappointed!

The event is graciously being hosted by Caribbean Students and the Humanities Centre of the University of Toronto Community Arts Program & Wild Garden Media Centre, Faculty of Environmental Studies, the Centre for the Study of Black Cultures in Canada, CALACS of York University and the University of the West Indies Alumni Association (Toronto Chapter)

It could not be done without the support of The Transitonal Year Program, Principals’s Innovation Fund at New College Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies of the University of Toronto: Dean, Faculty of Arts, Latin and Caribbean Studies of York University and Air Jamaica

To confirm your attendance email da.trotz@utoronto.ca or call 416-978-8268

long time no update!

Well, it's been awhile. What kept us away? Let's see: Reloading the Can[n]on: Kingston Dub Poetry Festival, a very successful weekend that happened at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and the upcoming Dub Poets Collective Reading Series.

The 2007 Edition of the reading series - ROOTS AND BRANCHES - will continue DPC's commitment towards forging dub-driven artistic links across genres, generations, cultures, and literary traditions.

The first event, February 16th's Reading and Open-Mic with S.T.E.P.U.P. and special guest straight from Jamaica, Owen Blakka Ellis. The dubbing vibes were on that night, and we thank all that came out to the Urban Arts' Y-Arts Space for support.

The next reading series event will be occuring this March with the Canadian pioneer of dub, LILLIAN ALLEN at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).

For those that missed the Kingston Festival, don't despair! In April, we will have special performers from the festival as well as Mr. Oral Transmissions himself, CLIFTON JOSEPH.

So start checking the DUBBLOG again! We'll be keeping you up-to-date on all future reading series events.

The Hanging of Angélique nominated for Governor General's

Great News! Afua Cooper's The Hanging of Angélique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montréal is a finalist for the 2006 Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction. This is an amazing honour for a Canadian writer to receive, and we're very proud of Afua for making the short list.

Other finalists in the Non-Fiction category include Ross King for The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism,
Susanne Reber, Richmond Hill (ON), and Robert Renaud, Ottawa, for Starlight Tour: The Last, Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild, Michael Strangelove for The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement and Christine Wiesenthal for The Half-Lives of Pat Lowther.

The award is worth $15, 000, and includes the gift of a specially-bound copy of the winning book, as well as $3, 000 to the author's publisher to support promo activities. Non-winning finalists each receive $1, 000 for being recognized on the shortlist. The awards are funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. at simultaneous news conferences in Toronto and Montreal. For more info, visit the Governor General's Literary Awards website.

Friday, October 20th - Unda' Heavy Mannahs

Spoken word artist/rapper El Machetero is organizing a lil' sumthin' at the Concord Cafe. If you have the chance, come out and support!

Are you in the 12-17 age bracket? Looking for after-school fun?

Our friends at UrbanArts are running a FREE after-school arts program for youth between the ages 12-17 from Monday-Friday, 3:30-5:30 PM at the Y-Arts Community Space (19 John Street).

The program just began this past Monday (October 2nd), but it's not too late to still register. If you're interested, call (416) 241-5124 or visit them at their website, http://www.urbanartstoronto.com/.

We was robbed!

Yesterday at the Toronto Arts Council Foundation Awards, d'bi.young unfortunately did not win the RBC Emerging Artist Award. However, according to a Toronto Star article about the event, veteran philanthropist Bluma Appel made a surprise announcement that she would award all non-winners on the shortlist $1000 each. Not too shabby.

A Lillian Allen Recommendation

Ann Elizabeth Carson + Pamela Mordecai + Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes

THURSDAY OCTOBER 12, 7 PM
Toronto Women’s Bookstore (73 Harbord Street)
Drinks provided. Partially wheelchair accessible. Free Admission.

Come hear Ann, Pamela and Mary-Lou read poetry and stories that will
leave you wanting more.

MY GRANDMOTHER’S HAIR (by Ann Elizabeth Carson) uncovers the story of
how relationships of power are revealed through memory held in the
body,combining narrative writing with the author’s own poetry,
drawing,
painting and sculpture.

PINK ICING (by Pamela Mordecai) draws delicately detailed portraits of
life in Jamaica and Trinidad, with occasional trips to Canada, exposing the
currents beneath the calm exterior of lazy village life and producing
complex tales that will challenge as well as entertain.

Vividly, and with delicate precision, TRAVELLING LIGHT (by Mary Lou
Soutar-Hynes) illuminates the people, landscapes and art - across
Canada, in Europe, and in Jamaica - that we are invited to love, admire, and
participate in the process of re-creating.

Co-sponsored by Edgar Kent Publishers, Insomniac Press and Seraphim
Editions.

Cross your fingers...

Best wishes go out to DPC member d'bi young, who is a finalist for the Toronto Arts Council RBC Emerging Artist award!

The $5, 000 crash prize is presented to an emerging Toronto artist woprking in any medium or performing arts discipline in celebration of current acccomplishments and future potential. Established in 2006 by RBC Foundation, this award is intended to support development or completion of new work.

Award recipients will be announced October 5th at The Mayor's Arts Awards Lunch at the Fairmont Royal York. It was be hosted by CBC broadcaster, musician, writer and producer Jian Gomeshi and Mayor David Miller.

We're all oh so proud at the office, and definitely have our fingers crossed that d'bi gets this! :)

Afua's on tour!

Afua Cooper continues her books tour for the Fall/Winter 06 season 2006:

October 1 - The Ottawa International Writers Festival

From the Festival's schedule:

Sunday, October 1 @ 4:00 pm
BIG IDEA: The Untold Story
of Canadian Slavery
with Afua Cooper

$12 / $10 Student or Senior / $6 Festival Member

“The most important piece of Canadian history written in decades, Afua Cooper’s The Hanging of Angélique shakes the earth beneath the Canadian nation story”
— Dionne Brand

The flattering self-portrait of Canada that many of us learned in school is powerfully exposed in The Hanging of Angélique. Dr. Afua Cooper shocks us awake to our repression of the history of Canadian slavery and challenges us to recover our lost narrative. “Everyone turned out to see the spectacle of the hanging, to gaze upon the Black woman who had burnt their town. She passed in the rubbish cart, her head bare, her legs a bloody mass, her body covered with the garment of the condemned.” Angélique’s history is the first known Black slave narrative in North America.

Sunday, October 1 @ 8:00 pm
Poetry Cabaret

featuring Ronnie R. Brown, Jon Paul Fiorentino and Afua Cooper
$15 / $12 Student or Senior / $8 Festival Member

An evening of acclaimed Canadian poetry that runs the gamut from Ottawa’s Ronnie R. Brown, who was described by Irving Layton as “the only female version of Layton that I can see on the horizon” to Jon Paul Fiorentino, dubbed “one of Montreal’s finest poets” by Hour Montreal, to Toronto’s Afua Cooper, whose poetry is praised as “eloquent and visionary.”

“Seldom can a book of poetry be called a page-turner, but Brown’s States of Matter contains absorbing micro-novels, enticing you with situations that could be yours or a friend’s.”
— Canadian Bookseller

"Fiorentino is in the midst of something grand."
— The Globe and Mail

"Incantatory, vivid, passionate, sensual, incendiary—Afua Cooper’s poetry delivers rich nourishment for the imagination."
— Allan Briesmaster

October 10-15 - WordFest 2006 (Banff Calgary International Writers Festival)

For a complete listing of all the events, go to Afua's Author Profile on their website.

October 17 - University of Victoria

Afua will be reading and performing at an event hosted by the Department of History and Women's Studies.

October 18 & 19 - Simon Fraser University (Burnaby Campus)

Afua will be a guest of the Women's Studies department at their Burnaby Campus on the 18th, and a guest of the Creative Writing department at their Vancouver campus on the 19th.

October 30 - November 1 - New University of Lisbon

Afua will be the guest of the English Studies deparment at the New
University of Lisbon, Portugal.

DPC Events Calendar

Make sure you mark these events down on your calendar:



1NESS Presents: Warriors Cry
Sunday, September 17

When Words Are Spoken & Poetic Soul present The Warriors Cry, featuring Latino Poet SPIN, Reggae Artist Humble, and DPC member d'bi.young, who just came off of the successful remounting of blood.claat.

Hosted by Al St. Louis
All artists backed by The SoulMates Band

Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas St W (Dufferin/Dundas)
(1 Block W of Dufferin)
416 588 0307
Show Time 7 PM

$15 Advance
$18 Door

For more information in regards to ticket outlets, please visit poeticsoul.ca.



The Art Bar Poetry Series
Tuesday, September 19th

Karen Richardson, an UrbanArts friend of DPC, will be performing at the longest-running poetry-only reading series in Canada.

8 PM
Free
Victory Cafe (581 Markham St)



NuitBlanche
Saturday, September 30 - Sunday, October 1

NuitBlanche is a free all night contemporary art "thing" that is taking place from sunset at 7:01 PM (yes, yes, 7:01, not the usual 7:00) on September 30 to sunrise at 7:15 PM October 1.

NuitBlanche(Sponsored by Scotiabank and the City of Toronto) is a rare free city-wide event where more than 100 Toronto museums, galleries and institutions are gonna have their doors open ALL NIGHT LONG (cue the Lionel Ritchie) to present contemporary art installations and programs.

So what's DPC gotta do with this? Dub Poet Lillian Allen will be one of the writers participating in Bedtime Tales: Fables and Fantasies, a night of live readings and recordings at the Toronto Helconian Club (35 Hazelton Ave). We'll give you a heads up soon with the specific time that Lillian will be on.



The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
October 11-14

The CFSW is a festival of Spoken Word and Poetry that hosts artists from across Canada and international guests to celebrate and promote Spoken Word performance, to expand and cultivate the audience for this work, and to inspire networking between artists and organizers from various regions of Canada in order to foster a growing and interdependent national community of Spoken Word artists.

On Friday, October 13th, there will be a Dub Poetry Collective Showcase, featuring Afua Cooper, and some other DPC members at the Trane Studio (964 Bathurst St.). Details will be posted as soon as we get them.