THE DUBBLOG

A Tribute to Louise Simone Bennett on Friday!

2007-03-02T11:50:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-23T11:52:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-06T10:43:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-10-06T10:20:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-10-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-09-29T14:36:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-09-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-12T17:23:00.000-05:00

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.

Afua in The Jamaica Star

2006-09-08T15:40:00.000-05:00

Afua's back from Jamaica, working on a new book and stuck with a sore throat that she hasn't been able to shake since before she left (anyone have any herbal remedies for that? feel free to suggest them in the comments section).

On a brighter note, The Jamaica Star reported on Afua's double book launch at The University of the West Indies.

Here's what they had to say of Afua's readings:

And as Afua Cooper started the evening's extended readings, she blended poetry and history, preceding the reading from the history book with the poem Confessions of a Woman Who Burnt Down a Town, she read, "I only intend for one house to burn."

Before reading from the book, Cooper gave extensive back-ground to the story, Angelique's history and that of Canada as well as black people in the country. She noted that many people do not associate slavery with Canada and while slavery was legal there, it has "disappeared from that country's historical records". "Black history has less to do with black history than with white pride," she said.

"They have a nickname for it, 'The Great White North', disconnected from anywhere else. That is not true," Cooper said. With that, she read from the first chapter, The Torture and Hanging of Angelique, which dealt with the brutal torture and hanging of the woman for starting a fire that razed the town on April 10, 1734. There were sighs and pained expressions in the audience as Cooper described Angelique's torture with the 'laced boots', under which she pleaded to be hanged now.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

S.T.E.P.U.P. meets the Mayor of Toronto

2006-09-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

On Monday, Aug 28th, S.T.E.P.U.P. participated in the unveiling of the Mount Dennis Railway Lands Living Fence Project, which was attended by 100 people including Mayor David Miller.

The goal of the project was to clean-up and restore the rail land boulevard that the area is known for. The community project began this summer, and involved the installation of five board stations along the rail line that displays art and poetry by local youth.

UrbanArts, one of the organizations behind the project and friends of DPC, got S.T.E.P.U.P. involved by having lines of poetry written by members included in the mural artwork.

Denis Calnan, graffiti leader of the mural project, sent us the great photo of some of the members of the S.T.E.P.U.P. crew with the mayor.

For more photos of the murals, check out the Eglinton Flats Park website, which has a page devoted to the work involved with the project.

Attn writers! - When the Rainbow Isn't Enough

2006-09-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

The Toronto Women's Bookstore is accepting submissions from emerging writers (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word) for their new monthly reading series: When the Rainbow Isn't Enough.

Here's the official notice:

The purpose of When the Rainbow Isn't Enough is to provide a supportive
environment for new and emerging queer and trans writers of colour and
two-spirited aboriginal writers to share their work, share resources and
build networks.

All readings will take place at the Toronto Women's Bookstore.

Theme for September 29th: Hope and Resistance
Theme for October 27th: Transitions and Turning Points
Theme for November 24th: Naming and Reclaiming

Submission Guidelines:
- Please indicate which month you are applying for.
- All pieces must connect to the theme of that month.
- All pieces must be a total of 2500 words maximum, typed, double spaced and
12 font.
- Submissions must include a short biographical note and full contact
information.
- If you wish your submission returned please include a self-addressed
stamped envelope.
- Late submissions will not be accepted.
- Submissions by email or by fax will not be accepted.

First time readers and young people (under 25) are particularly encouraged
to send in your work.

* Early submissions are strongly encouraged.

Deadlines:
Submissions for the September 29th reading must be at the bookstore by
closing time (8 p.m.) on Friday September 1, 2006.
Submissions for the October 27th reading must be at the bookstore by closing
time (8 p.m.) on Friday September 15, 2006.
Submissions for the November 24th reading must be at the bookstore by
closing time (8 p.m.) on Friday October 13, 2006.

Mail or deliver in person, your submissions to:
Toronto Women's Bookstore
73 Harbord Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1G4

Please feel free to email Dianah at dianah_smith@hotmail.com if you have any
questions or need any clarification.

Don't be shy, send in your work, we'll help you get it ready for the
reading.

Scream in the Square Reminder

2006-08-25T12:16:00.001-05:00

Don't forget! Lillian's performing at Scream in the Square, an evening of dub and sound poetry that's happening at Yonge-Dundas Square.

We know there's a little rain falling, but the event is still on, so we look forward to seeing you there at 8:30 PM.

New Dub-AllStars: ADISAJAJA + Tim Gaze

2006-08-25T11:19:00.000-05:00

ADISAJAJA is a new Jamaican Dub Poet/Reggae performing artist. If you go to his website, http://www.adisajaja.com, you can hear his latest single, "Word Sound and Powa".

TIM GAZE is an Australian poet that engages in "asemic writing", an artistic form of illegible/wordless writing. If you go to his new website (http://www.avance.stunink.com/), you can check out his work, which has a strong dub influence.

S.T.E.P.U.P. @ ArtReach

2006-08-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we mentioned S.T.E.P.U.P.'s performance at the Whippersnapper Gallery for ArtReach Toronto. Rahel, S.T.E.P.U.P. member and summer student at DPC, is here with an account of the event:

WHIPPERSNAPPER GALLARY WAS OFF THE HOOK! It was more than just an outreach - it was people coming together and realizing that the youth are the future and we can accomplish great things by doing what we do best and that’s getting out there and getting LIVE!

The S.T.E.P.U.P. crew did their thang, and I’m “oh so proud”. The crowd showed us a lot of love and we all felt the vibes in the room – can’t lie, the S.T.E.P.U.P. crew felt like celebrities with all the cameras following our every move! One day we’ll get to do “big tings” as Klyde would say and everyone would know our name INTERNATIONALLY.

Thanks to ArtReach Toronto for having S.T.EP.U.P. perform and get out there with our goods.

Rahel was also kind enough to let us post the finished poem that S.T.E.P.U.P. performed:

Discovering My Soul

My first poem copied another
and within that crime
I became a mother
Poetry
was doing me, writing itself
Pen picked me up,
I spilled out ink
Words made me look within
I finally saw what my heart truly thinks
My soul speaking

carved marks in my stone heart
and warmed by Ink’s lust,
red and black expressed my clustered thoughts
infused my veins
until they cradled in my chords to be grown like crops

I reached for the mic
Stage enlightened my mind,
livity’s lightning struck
so I took it as a sign and left church
Born again poet,

flames resurrected the ashes
then danced on the pages in between the lines
until Ink and I intertwined
“Freedom!” my poem cried aloud

and I, like a babymother, oh so proud
heard my child for the very first time

S.T.E.P.U.P. Reminder

2006-08-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

Don't forget: S.T.E.P.U.P. is holding it down at the Art Reach Launch today at the Whippersnapper Gallery (587A College Street) from 2 PM - 4 PM.

Come out and show your support for the next generation of spoken word artists!

d'bi.young - blood.claat

2006-08-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

d'bi is remounting blood.claat: one womban story at the Theatre Passe Muraille from August 29th to September 10th.

For more info, please visit http://www.bloodclaat.net.

Afua's Jamaican Book Launch

2006-08-22T09:34:00.000-05:00

Afua Cooper will be in Jamaica for a couple weeks doing a mini book tour. Here's the official invite to her book launch:

The Institute of Caribbean Studies in association with The Department
of Literatures in English, University of the West Indies, Mona, invites
you to the launch of two books by the distinguished Jamaican poet and
historian Dr. Afua Cooper, who lectures at the University of Toronto.
Copper Woman and Other Poems & The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold
Story of Canadian Slavery and the burning of Old Montreal on Thursday,
August 24, 2006, at 6:00p.m.
The Undercroft of the Senate Building UWI, Mona
For further information please contact the Institute of Caribbean
Studies telephone: 977-1951, 512-3228 or e-mail: icsmona@uwimona.edu.jm

Upcoming DPC Event - Outdoor Used Book Sale - Friday, Aug 25

2006-08-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

If you have any books you'd like to donate to the sale, feel free to come by the office and drop them off - we're here next week from Tuesday - Friday, 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM.

Dub Poets Collective Reading Series: Culture Dubbing on the Frontlines - "Scream in the Square"

2006-08-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

Scream in the Square - An Evening of Dub and Sound Poetry

On 25 August 2006, an important evening of music-drenched poetry will take over Dundas-Square across from the Eaton Centre. Led by Toronto’s Founding Mother of Dub Poetry, two-time Juno-winning Lillian Allen will unleash her electric performance with the help of dub-mixer extraordinaire Jarret Prescott. The internationally-acclaimed sound poet Paul Dutton will weave a sinuous web of improvised sound and language onstage with stellar percussionist Tomasz Krakowiak. a.rawlings, a new light in performance and sound poetry, presents her chant-heavy, jazz-infused, theatrical and hypnotizing show with the shockingly talented Theatre Commutiny. Other performers and guests will also take to the stage.

The Scream in the Square event, the first designated literary event in the Square, is a historic fusion of Toronto’s world-class dub and sound poetry communities. Inspired by the possibility of bringing vibrant art to the heart of the city, reclaiming the public square for unpackaged innovators, these explosive multi-modal performers defy the boundaries of their art and smash any preconceived notions of what poetry is and where it belongs. The open-air canopy of the city sky will sing electric with the dub riddims of Allen, howl in amazement at Dutton’s improvisations, and gaze agog in wonder and delight at the flutter, jazz, and spectacle of a.rawlings and Theatre Commutiny. Friday night on the last weekend before Labour Day, the city will be transported and changed.

Scream in the Square, part of the Dub Poets Collective Reading Series: Culture Dubbing on the Frontlines, is produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council and the League of Canadian Poets. It has a loose affiliation with the Scream Literary Festival.

Where: Yonge-Dundas Square, across from the Eaton Centre
When: Friday, 25 August 2006 Time: 8:30 – 10:30 PM
Cost: FREE

Global Dub NewsWatch - Malachi Smith in Miami Herald

2006-08-15T12:36:00.000-05:00

Malachi Smith was featured in the Thursday, August 10th edition of the Miami Herald for his Jamaican Independence Day Performance.

A Lillian Allen Recommendation - Ingrid de Kok Book Launch

2006-08-11T09:48:00.000-05:00

The South African poet Ingrid de Kok will be launching her "Seasonal Fires: New and Selected Poems" in Toronto on Monday, August 21st. The event will be taking place at Type Books, 883 Queen Street West, at 7p.m.

Ingrid is the author of four volumes of poetry, but her new collection is the first to be published in North America. Her work has appeared in journals throughout the world and been translated into eight languages. She has been awarded residencies at the Rockefeller Centre in Bellagio, Italy and at the Civitella Ranieri Centre in Italy, and has read at universities and festivals worldwide, including the Berlin International Literary Festival and the Rotterdam International Festival. She lived in Canada for eight years and studied at Queens' University before returning to South Africa where she lives in Cape Town and runs the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Cape Town.

Another S.T.E.P.U.P. Update

2006-08-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Rahel is back with another update of the newest DPC-related collective, S.T.E.P.U.P.

For our third official meeting we got straight down to business with finishing up on the poem we had started writing last week. It was a rocky start to get back into last week's vibes, but we “dubbed” it through and got the vibes back.

We also discussed the fact that our “Dub Master” Klyde Broox will be gone to the Yukon for the Yukon International Storytelling Festival, so the S.T.E.P.U.P. crew is going to have to manage one week without him.

Here’s a portion of the poem that we have been getting at:

My first poem copied another,
within that crime I became a mother
poetry
was doing me, writing itself
the pen picked me up
I spilled out ink
The moment my eyes saw what my heart felt
The day I saw the rays of horizons afar
The stage enlightened my mind
I left c h u r c h

Born again poet
I breathe freedom
My poem cried out loud
Like a babymother, oh so proud
The first time I felt my poem heard
Words made me look within

first day the mic was reached
flames arose from ashes
danced on pages in between the lines
ink and I intertwined

Live with Klyde Broox in the Yukon

2006-08-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

Dub Poet/S.T.E.P.U.P. coordinator Klyde Broox will be heading to the Yukon for the Yukon International Storytelling Festival, happening August 18-20.

On the off chance that you might be in the area, please come out and support!

S.T.E.P.U.P. Update

2006-08-04T12:42:00.000-05:00

- Photo courtesy of Clairandean Humphrey

S.T.E.P.U.P. (Speech That Enlightens People Uplift Places) was an intensive two-week summer program that promoted non-violent approaches to personal, social and political development by illustrating how artistic expression can process emotion and focus energy positively.

The Dub Poets program, in conjuction with Urban Arts and Live With Culture, was designed, coordinated and led by dubpoet Klyde Broox, and had celebrated poets such as d'bi.young, Michael St. George, Afua Cooper and Peculiar I come in and mentor the youth participants, who ranged from the ages of 15-25.

S.T.E.P.U.P. was such a success that the participants decided to continue on with the program, becoming members of a new collective.

Rahel, a member of S.T.E.P.U.P. and summer student at Dub Poets, gives us an update:

Our second official S.T.E.P.U.P. meeting was good. Apart from all the fun, we always have this time to come together and talk about some administrative “stuff” as Klyde would say.
It was interesting to see how we all got into a more serious mode when it came to the importance of where our group is planning to go and how we’ll stretch ourselves to reach others, in any way, shape or form. It’s so great that we have a number of people who are willing to put in their time and effort for S.T.E.P.U.P. to be a
success.

S.T.E.P.U.P. is currently in the process of setting up it's own website. Derrick, another member, is getting us connected to the Toronto District School Board. We hope to go to different schools to do motivational speaking promoting spoken word, so if you’re interested in having S.T.E.P.U.P. members come to your school contact info@dubpoetscollective.com.
We have big plans at the moment. You can catch S.T.E.P.U.P. members doing their thang at the following events:
Art Reach Launch Tuesday, Aug. 22 Whippersnapper Gallery (587A College Street) 2 PM - 4 PM
Culture Shock - A Community Performance of Talent Saturday, Aug. 26 1735-1736 Weston Road Courtyard 2 PM - 4 PM

To sum it all up S.T.E.P.U.P. is doing BIG things and will continue to keep the fire blazin’ because that’s what we’re all about - getting connected and making people see that what we do isn’t an obligation; we do it because we love it!

d'bi.young - blood.claat Book Launch @ Lula Lounge | Monday, August 14th

2006-08-03T13:31:00.000-05:00

d'bi is launching the publication of her new play, blood.claat - one womban story. The book launch will be taking place at the Lula Lounge (585 Dundas Street West) Monday, August 14th. Admission is $10.

From the DPC Archives: Lillian Allen @ Feminist Read-In (June 6, 2006)

2006-08-02T13:08:00.000-05:00

On June 6th, Lillian participated in The Miss G___ Project's Feminist Read-In at Queen's Park, Toronto.

What exactly is the Miss G___ Project, you ask? According to their website:

The Miss G__ Project is a group of concerned citizens working together to promote equity in education, to combat sexism and homophobia through education, and to encourage active citizenship.

Our Current Mission: to get a Women's Studies course into the Ontario Secondary School Curriculum. Equity in education is a policy commitment of the Ontario Secondary School Curriculum, but without recognizing gender and its implications, the curriculum fails to meet this commitment. We go through our mandatory formal education careers without ever encountering a critical study of gender and sexuality. In high school, we never encountered a fair and appropriate introduction to the very real contributions and histories of women and feminisms.

Review of Afua Cooper's 'Copper Woman' in Jamaican Gleaner

2006-08-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

Afua Cooper received a positive review for Copper Woman in the Jamaican Gleaner.

Here's a sampling of what freelance writer Mel Cooke had to say about it:

And where does the writer cross the line between her real life and an imagined one? It is in My Illusion ("it was in Portland by the Blue Lagoon/that I saw the brightest moon/rise from the black sea") or in Red Eyes ("you present me with a bracelet of pure copper/I tell you I cannot accept this gift/because I am thinking of another")?

It is a matter to consider, as soul-baring meets near erotica and powerful statement in Afua Cooper's Copper Woman And Other Poems.

Service of Thanksgiving

2006-08-01T11:36:00.000-05:00

Celebratin' Miss Lou: She Was Ah Real Tallawa!

2006-08-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

We join our Jamaican brethren and sistren in a Dinki mini-style celebration of the life of Louise Bennett-Coverly, the First Lady of Jamaican Utterance, who died in Toronto (Canada) on Wednesday, July 26.

Miss Lou understood the relationships between language and identity; she knew that real nations were cultural edifices made of homemade bricks and local imagination. She was a real tallewa*.

Louise Simone Bennett was certainly not the first to big up the Jamaican language. This very special honour belongs to Claude (Claudius Festus) McKay (1889-1948), the Jamaican-born poet and novelist who published two books of poems in the Jamaican dialect, Constab Ballad and Songs of Jamaica, in 1912 before dashing off to the 'Merica where he would become a herald of the Harlem Renaissance.

The hot-footed McKay was in Morocco in the early 1930s, when Louise Bennett emerged to continue the work that was begun in 1912: Miss Bennett would stay on the wuk
for more than seventy years. Indeed, many of the triumphs (and trials) of modern Jamaica are illustrated in the inimitable registers of her voice.

For instance, Jamaica's attainment of constitutional independence" in 1962 inspired her to celebrate the irrepressible "independantniss" of her people. She wrote:

Matty sey it mean we facety
Stan' up pon we dignity,
An we don't allow nobody
Fe teck libarty wid we.

Independence is we nature
Born and bred in all we do
An she glad fe se that Govament
Tun independant too.

She hope dem caution worl'- map
Fe stop draw Jamaica small
For
de lickle speck can't show
We independantniss at all!

Miss Lou celebrated Jamaica's entry into the community of nations, and when Jamaicans started to pour into Englan' in the 1950s she unleashed her mordant humour, greeting the exodus as a mere "colonisation in reverse":

Wat a joyful news , Miss Mattie,
I feel like me heart gwine burs'
Jamaica people colonisin'
Englan in reverse.

What a islan! What a people!
Man and woman, old and young
Just pack dem bag and baggage
An tun history upside down.

Then she went to 'Merika and met Harry at the height of his calypso-singing fame. And she look pon Harry and sey: "Harry, how you ah sing 'bout six foot,seven foot, eight foot bunch, eh? Bwoy, you ever did know banana have foot? Well mek me tell you this, banana no have foot. Banana have hand and fingers".

Then she tun 'round and sang the sing:

"Six hand, seven hand, eight hand bunch",
bringing much daylight to Harry's 'Merican head.

Louise Bennett alerted Jamaicans to the power of their African heritage. She was especially fond of the Dinki Mini, a funerary dance that defies death while bringing
jollification to the hearts of the bereaved.

And right now Miss Lou's metallic laughter rings across Jamaica, signalling her defiance of death. She is now a verb in the grammar of Jamaican culture. Miss Lou has earned her immortality!

* stalwart

This is taken from a longer tribute.

- Caldwell Taylor

July 27, 2006

In Honour of a Great Jamaican

2006-08-01T11:07:00.000-05:00

Please feel free to reproduce this poem to honour the legacy of Miss Lou.

Tribute to Miss Lou
By Dub Poet Lillian Allen

HEARTBEAT
Pred out yuself Miss Lou
Lawd, yu mek wi heart pound soh
yu mek wi just love up wiself
an talk wi talk soh

spirit words
on a riddim fire
word flame beat
pumps de heart
pulses history's heat

She writes
the heartbeat of our lives
dignity/culture/politics/history/lovingness/soul
dis dressup oman wi shinning star

HISTORY
Her Story
my story
his story
our story
brukout story

THE VOICE
The voice
stug ug ugg uggling
to be heard

hear dis;
dem sey we sey she sey he sey hear sey
raw rim of soul
her mirror a poem
with room to grow

LANGUAGE
Get up
dance clap
sweat pon de ground
tambourine
sing a ring ding
sing a ring ding

If wi caant sing wi 'Linstead Market'
an 'Wata Com A Mi Yeye'
is what mek you gwine think
we coulda did feel satisfied

the language of the people is the language of life

WINGS
She gives voice
(and) form
(and) wings to the silenced

"BEAR IT UP"
Candy Seller
how is business nowadays?
a South Parade Peddle meddle
Problems Problems
Hardtimes
Invasions
My dreams
see Jamaica Elevate
Changes
bear up people for the Victory Parade
It Wut It It Wut It

CHO MON
when Auntie Roachie speak
cho mon
oonu know sey if a noh soh
a near soh

A TRUE
And the first and last sentence
in the book of her life reads:
Jamaican people in dem free spiritidness
in dem purity
in dem Caribbeaness
in dem Blackness
in dem cunning and industriousness
in dem 'tuppidness and imperfection
is precious

and even the ugliest among us
agents of doom and exploitation
you will hear say;
'A true mon. A true thing Miss Lou a talk, yes!'

SOUL FLICKER
Sometimes, sometimes
in the midst of oppression
a soul emerges
in the dense silence
in the conspiracy of normalcy
and officialdom

sometimes in this dimness
a flicker
a light
a path
a Miss Lou

The Coalition's Tribute to Miss Lou

2006-08-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverly O.M. M.B.E. Dip R.A.D.A., D. Lit (Hon)

1919-2006

Louise Bennett was born on September 7, 1919. She was not only a Jamaican poet and activist, but also a 'living legend' and cultural icon. Miss Lou received her education from Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon's College, Excelsior College, Friends College (Highgate).

Although she lived in Toronto for the last decade, she still receives the homage of the expatriate West Indian community in the north as well as a large Canadian following.

She was described as Jamaica's leading comedienne, as the "only poet who has really hit the truth about her society through its own language", and as an important contributor to her country of "valid social documents reflecting the way Jamaicans think and feel and live". She composed her poems in the Jamaican language, and as a result, legitimized the Jamaican folk culture to an art level which now is acceptable to and appreciated by all in Jamaica.

In her poems she was able to capture all the spontaneity of the expression of Jamaicans' joys and sorrows, their ready, poignant and even wicked wit, their religion and their philosophy of life. Her first dialect poem was written when she was fourteen years old. A British Council Scholarship took her to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where she studied in the late 1940's.

Bennett not only had a scholarship to attend the academy but she auditioned and won a scholarship. After graduation she worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield and Amersham as well as in intimate revues all over England.

On her return to Jamaica she taught drama to youth and adult groups both in social welfare agencies and for the University of the West Indies Extra Mural Department.

She lectured extensively in the United States and the United Kingdom on Jamaican folklore and music and represented Jamaica all over the world. She married Eric Winston Coverley in 1954 (who died in 2002) and has one stepson and several adopted children. She enjoyed theatre, movies and auction sales.

Her contribution to Jamaican cultural life was such that she was honored with the M.B.E., the Norman Manley Award for Excellence (in the field of Arts), the Order of Jamaica (1974) the Institute of Jamaica's Musgrave Silver and Gold Medals for distinguished eminence in the field of Arts and Culture, and in 1983 the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies. In September 1988 her composition "You're going home now", won a nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, for the best original song in the movie Milk and Honey.

In 1998 she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from York University in Toronto, Canada. The Jamaica Government also appointed her Cultural Ambassador at Large for Jamaica. On Jamaica's independence day 2001, Bennett Coverley was appointed as a Member of the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to the development of the Arts and Culture. - courtesy of The Coalition

2005 International Dub Poetry Festival Part II: Dubbing the Elements

2005-11-15T09:38:00.000-06:00

November 14, 2005

2005 International Dub Poetry Festival Part II: Dubbing the Elements

November 24-27, Toronto (various locations)

Wind and rain, earth and fire; as the season changes, the Dub Poets Collective shouts November to a close with "Dubbing the Elements;" the second half of the 2005 International Dub Poetry Festival.

From November 24 - 27, some of the most provocative poets, performers and thinkers in the Americas converge upon Toronto. Words and rhythms their only weapons, they come to challenge the mind, excite the spirit and chant down the status quo. Join us for:

* four nights of performance, including a youth poetry slam & competition with prizes;

* three days of panel discussions, including a youth discussion on poetics and performance, the history of dub poetry, and the challenges of translating the voice to the page;

* a rediscovery of the works of Phillis Wheatley, one of America's first published black poets;

* the triumphant launch of collective member Klyde Broox's book of poetry, "My Best Friend is White."

Festival guests include:

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Cape Croker Reserve, Ontario
Michael Bennett (Jamaica
George Elliott Clarke (Toronto
Melville Cooke (Jamaica
Shauntay Grant (Halifax
Oni the Haitian Sensation (Ottawa
Peculiar I (Toronto
Ras Mykkal (Bermuda
Eintou Springer (Trinidad & Tobago
Samuel Fure Davis (Cuba

Formed in 2003, the Dub Poets Collective is a creative organization totally dedicated to promoting dub poetry as a vital cultural practice. The DPC is also committed to the enhancement of other spoken word genres. Since our first main festival in June of 2004, we have been working hard to engage Toronto and the greater
world in the rhythms and reasoning of dub and dubbing towards enlightenment and overstanding. DPC members include Klyde Broox, Afua Cooper, Clifton Joseph, Sankofa Juba, Chet Singh, and d’bi.young.

Evening performances:

Thursday Nov. 24
Opening night: "Dubbing the Elements"

Friday, Nov. 25
Youth Poetry Slam & Competition

Saturday, Nov. 26
Each Man Version (Men Reasoning)

Sunday, Nov. 27
Book Launch ("My Best Friend is White," by Klyde Broox)

Panels/presentations:

Friday, Nov. 25
The History of Dub Poetry

Rediscovering Phillis Wheatley, Mother of Black Literature

Saturday, Nov. 26
Youth Poetics/Performance Discussion

Publishing: The Word Made Text

Sunday, Nov. 27
Tribute, or Theft? (Using the cultural stylings of others)

For information, locations & updated festival information, contact the Dub
Poets Collective:

Phone: 416.598.4932
Email: Dub Poets Collective
Website: www.dubpoetscollective.com

The 2005 International Dub Poetry Festival Part II is generously supported by the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Two new books of poetry from Sandberry Press!

2005-11-15T09:05:00.000-06:00

Sandberry Press
Toronto, Canada
SANDBERRY AT SYMPATICO DOT CA

14 November 2005

PRESS RELEASE

Sandberry Press announces the publication and launch of two new volumes of poetry by Caribbean and Canadian authors.

The True Blue of Islands, by Pamela Mordecai, and Calling Cards, an anthology featuring mostly newly published poets, will be launched at Nicholas Hoare Bookstore on Thursday November 24 at 6.00 p.m.

The True Blue of Islands is Mordecai’s fourth volume of poetry, and follows her popular Certifiable, published in 2001. This latest volume celebrates the life of her brother Richard, who was murdered in 2004.

Calling Cards is an anthology of poems by six poets, four of them with roots in the Caribbean. For all but one of them, Calling Cards is their first publication in book form. Jamaican-born Mary Liu Soutar Hines published The fires of naming in 2001. Nan Peacocke, originally from St Vincent, and Canadians Janet Somerville and Jennifer Walcott, the latter of Jamaican parentage, have had poems in literary journals. Calling Cardss represents first publication of poetry by Celia Ferrier, an American-born Canadian, and Keisha Silvera, born in Toronto of Jamaican parents.

Sandberry Press, founded in Jamaica in 1986 to publish Caribbean poetry and children’s literature, is now established in Toronto. The True Blue of Islands is volume nine in the press’s Caribbean Poetry Series; previous volumes include work by Edward Baugh (Jamaica), Jane King (St Lucia), and Dennis Scott (Jamaica). Calling Cards inaugurates Sandberry’s Caribbean Anthology Series.

# # #

Contact:

Martin Mordecai
Sandberry Press
SANDBERRY AT SYMPATICO DOT CA

# # #

Notes on books and authors

Sandberry Press publishes Caribbean and Canadian poetry for adults as well as books for children. Founded in 1986 in Jamaica, its main operations moved to Toronto, Canada in 1994. The emphasis of its modest publication programme is on first collections, and six of these have been published in its Caribbean Poetry Series of nine volumes. Calling Cards inaugurates an anthology series that remains true to the first collection focus of the press.

The True Blue of Islands
by Pamela Mordecai

From back cover

The True Blue of Islands is a collection of poems that, for the most part, explore violence. The book begins with the brutal treatment of Great-Granny Mac, a slave, then takes ironic account of ‘Sunflowers’ who endure abuse as well as inflict it on themselves, ending with the mindless murder of the poet’s brother. Harnessing a broad range of Jamaican idioms, the poet tackles her subject with occasional wry humour, superb craft and dreadful honesty. These poems are heartbreaking but, unfailingly, they sing.

A beautiful collection. A short, compact piece of grace, deeply felt and immaculately crafted, thick with personal allusions and references, telling a massive story. A splendid accomplishment.
— Kwame Dawes
Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts, U of S.C.
Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative

Praise for Certifiable:

Pamela Mordecai is one of the most brilliant and witty of our poets...
— Kamau Brathwaite

…witty and high spirited…spiced with piquant humour…
— Barbara Carey, The Toronto Star

very rich linguistically, imaginatively, and thematically
— D. M. Thomas

— powerful, mischievous haunting poems…
Stewart Brown

— Certifiable invokes subversive, irreverent, but infinitely complex women’s voices and affirms their singing, not to deny suffering, but to give account f it, in a complex emotional landscape and without submission or despair.
- Elaine Savory

- Under your feet as you follow, under your tongue as you read, these poems snap with brittle honesty and boundless energy.
- Emily Schultz, Siren

- Pamela Mordecai’s facility with language, her striking rhythms and word play and, above all, her wicked humour lift Certifiable from the pull of madness to the divine.
- Olive Senior

CALLING CARDS

The six women whose poems appear in this book are relatively new voices. Only one, Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes, has previously published a collection of her own. The poetry of Celia Ferrier and the late Keisha Silvera appears here for the first time. Nan Peacocke, Janet Sommerville and Jennifer Walcott have published in journals and anthologies in Canada and abroad. Five of these poets were born in other countries and chose to make Canada their home, four being born in the Caribbean. The youngest, a powerful talent, died early. Their signatures are distinctive.

CALLING CARDS is edited by Pamela Mordecai

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

CELIA FERRIER attended undergraduate and graduate school at the University of Toronto, the Arvon Foundation Writers Workshop at Moniakmhor, Invernessshire, and the Humber School for Writers. She has taught English and Drama in Scotland and in Toronto. With Yanna McIntosh she wrote “Trace”, a one-woman show produced at Toronto’s Fringe Theatre Festival in 1997.

PAMELA MORDECAI has written about Caribbean literature and compiled textbooks and anthologies, mostly of the writing of Caribbean women. She has written plays, short stories, five children’s books, four collections of poetry and (with her husband, Martin) a reference work on Jamaica. Sandberry Press published her most recent book, The True Blue of Islands, in 2005.

NAN PEACOCKE, a citizen of Canada and St Vincent and the Grenadines, was born in Guyana, and grew up in Trinidad, Venezuela and Jamaica. Based in rural Ontario, she moves between Toronto, St Vincent and Barbados. She is a recipient of a Commonwealth Broadcasting Award 2000 and co-winner of the 2003 Timothy Findley Prize for short fiction.

KEISHA SILVERA is the daughter of Toronto writer, Makeda Silvera. A gifted poet, her work appears for the first time in this anthology. She died in 2002.

JANET SOMERVILLE is grateful for poet Olive Senior's guidance at the Humber School for Writers Summer Workshop. She workshopped memoir excerpts under Catherine Gildiner's direction at the Banff Centre's Fall 2005 Writing With Style programme. She lives in Toronto where she competes on a Masters Women's rowing crew.

MARY LOU SOUTAR-HYNES, a Jamaican-Canadian, poet/educator and former nun, lives and works in Toronto. The fires of naming, her first poetry collection, was published in Toronto by Seraphim Editions in 2001. A member of the League of Canadian Poets, The Writers’ Union of Canada, and the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars, her work has appeared in a variety of journals. Travelling Light, her second poetry collection, is forthcoming from Seraphim Editions in 2006.

JENNIFER WALCOTT, born and raised in Jamaica, adopted Canada where she has lived for many years. Work in community development, radio, organizational change and secondary education defined much of her life. Now, well into her middle years, she combines teaching English with writing and handicrafts to achieve balance and comfort.

Afterword

Sandberry Press is pleased to inaugurate its anthology series with this collection – the first of what we hope will be a continuing series. In presenting the poetry of these six women, we remain true to two important aspects of our mandate. The first is to bring the work of new writers to the public; the second is to present Caribbean voices to the public.

When the press began, that ‘public’ was primarily a Caribbean public since the press was based at that time in Kingston, Jamaica. There are six million people or thereabouts in the anglophone Caribbean, where the publishing industry is young and the business of earning a living presses hard. Still, the books in the Caribbean Poetry Series have done well.

Sandberry Press now publishes in Canada and for the Canadian marketplace as well. It fulfills the press’s mandate of offering new poets the opportunity to publish their work in an increasingly competitive market.

Pics from Sunday's pre-festival fundraiser

2005-11-08T14:54:00.000-06:00

Dub poetry bringing some light to the darkness of a windy, rainy November evening; an appropriate night to introduce part II of the 2005 festival; "Dubbing the Elements":

-------------

Dub Poets Collective member Sankofa Juba, who organized the fundraiser at Club Paradise:

-------------

Drumming the event open (I'll post the brother's name later, when I find out what it is):

-------------

Makeba chanting:

-------------

Collective member Afua Cooper makes her point:

-------------

Peculiar I bringing the page to the stage:

-------------

J. Nichole Noel reasoning:

-------------

The audience at Club Paradise:

-------------

Collective member Clifton Joseph:

-------------

Lillian Allen, Strategic Advisor to the collective, takes the vibrations to another level:

MORE TO COME!

COME TO PARADISE! (Fundraiser for the fall 2005 dub poetry festival)

2005-10-30T14:33:00.000-06:00

Come To Paradise!

The Dub Poets Collective

PRE-FESTIVAL DUBBIN DUB FUNDRAISER*

Toronto, Ont. November 6^th, 2005

The Dub Poets Collective presents its First Annual Pre-festival Dubbin Dub Fundraiser. The stage will be slammin’ in Paradise on November 6^th, 2005: down n’ dutty dub poets; sizzling spoken word; classic Caribbean cuisine; and a tantalizing taste of what’s to come at the Fall 2005 Dub Poetry Festival. This Dubbin Dub Fundraiser will feature some of Toronto’s finest poets dubbin it down and stirring it up with a barrage of riddims, rhymes and reasoning:

The Incomparable Lillian Allen
Bush Wombmaan, Afua Cooper
Dubzz Poet at Large, Clifton Joseph
The Crying Poet, Peculiar I
The Man Whose Best Friend Is White, Klyde Broox
The Sensual, J. Nichole Noel
The Cosmic, Soul R
The Spiritual, Andrea Thompson
The Controversial One, Sankofa
The Ancestral One, d’bi.young

Hosted by: Neil Armstrong, Canada Xtra & Eve Labi, I.S.I.S. CIRCLE.

Sunday, November 6^th, 2005

Club Paradise Restaurant & Lounge

220 Attwell Drive (at Dixon Rd)

Doors open: 6 PM

Cost: $15 Advance $20 at Door

For more information contact The Dub Poets Collective:

Phone: (416) 598-4932 Fax: (416) 598-5345

Email: The Dub Poets Collective Web: Sankofa Juba

Tickets also available from:

Knowledge Bookstore (Brampton: 905-459-9875)

Burke’s Books (873 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto: 416-656-5366)

A Different Booklist (746 Bathurst St., Toronto: 416.538.0889)

Nalo Hopkinson (online purchase via Paypal or credit card)

* All proceeds go to the cost of presenting the Fall 2005 Dub Poetry Festival

My Best Friend is White

2005-10-28T11:38:00.000-05:00

New book of poetry by Dub Poets Collective member Klyde Broox from McGilligan Books:

 ISBN: 1-894692-13-6
 $15.95
 Poetry/Caribbean Literature
 136pp
 2005

TORONTO LAUNCH DATE:

Sunday, November 27, 2005
6:00 p.m.
Victory Cafe, 581 Markham St.
Admission: free

In My Best Friend is White, internationally respected dub poet Klyde Broox rummages the heart and soul of the post-colonial world with a bracing and embracing humanity. Influenced simultaneously by Shakespeare and Louise Bennett - aka Miss Lou – Broox employs poetry as a socio-political instrument. Rooted in daily survival struggles and in celebration of every day life, Broox honours the poetry of rap artists from the top of the charts to the streets where they began, drawing connections to the spoken word traditions of the Caribbean and Africa. He takes on the violent messages of gangsta rap and their consequences with a clear, mature message of his own. Poems of Jamaican life link to the poets and philosophy of his home culture: "My God Talk Patois" claims a deep Jamaican spiritual inheritance, "Mi Cyaan Believe It Yet" testifies after the murder of dub colleague Mikey Smith. This smart, provocative poetry blends speech and song, rhythm and rhyme in a distinct, infectious style.

“Now all yas who backtalk and sling black looks,
Ya ain’t read nothing til ya hear Klyde Broox.
He rope-a-dope, he savvy, swank and suave,
He call Minister Malcolm up outta da grave.
If you’re looking for Truth, ya gotta free it from books:
So, sound these resounding pages of the sage Klyde Broox.”
George Elliot Clarke, Laureate
2001 Governor-General’s Award for Poetry

“Intensely allusive, multi-layered, skilful and unfailing in its sense of comic timing and rhetorical positioning, this poetry cannot fail to change Canadians’ perspective on Canada, on its literature, and on its historical and political relationship with the African diaspora.”
Maria Caridad Casas

Dub Poets Collective member d'bi.young teaches the history of dub poetry @ the Toronto Women's Bookstore

2005-10-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

Toronto Women's Bookstore

RIDDIM. RAGE. AND REVOLUSHUN: THE POLITIX OF DUB
POETRY

with storyteller d’bi.young

Mondays in November: 7, 14, 21 and 28

from 6:30pm to 9pm @ TWB

Fee: $52 (No Refunds)

Enrollment limited to 15 participants

Limited sliding scale spots available

this course explores the rigorous commitment to political
analysis and action that is the foundation of dub poetry. fertile herstoric/historic
roots of dub, planted in jamaica in the late 1970s has (womb)manifested
into a movement of artistic expression primarily geared towards social
change. why was the birth of dub poetry inevitable? who were/are the
people responsible for this revolushunary recycled creation? how can
we inform our storytelling with the political/communal discipline that
is dub poetry’s primary element? join us in november as we storytell
dub poetry’s journey into adulthood; considering the movement’s constant
negotiations with race, class, ethnicity, and politics.

* WEEK ONE: What is dub poetry: introduction to dub poetry,
herstorical background and foundations, language and politix in post
independent jamaica, reggae as musical infusion into ‘dubbin the vibez’.

* WEEK TWO: Main elements of dub poetry: language, politix, music and
performance.

* WEEK THREE: Dub goes international: the expansion of dub poetry throughout
the Caribbean, North American and Europe, who are the dub poets and
what are they saying.

* WEEK FOUR: Writing ourselves: using the four main elements of dub
to create poetry that is rooted in social change and development for
our communities (personal writing is optional).

dub poets to be explored include: mikey smith. anita stewart.
poets in unity. mutabaruka. cherry natural. linton kwesi johnson. jean
binta breeze. lillian allen, ahdri zhina mandiela. afua cooper. michael
st.george. clifton joseph. and naila keleta mae.

about the storyteller: d’bi.young is a dub poet. actor.
and playwright. she was born and raised in jamaica and moved to toronto
in 1993. her poetic and theatrical work has been featured nationally
and internationally in such projects as ‘da kink in my hair’, ‘lord
have mercy’ tv series, hbo def poetry jam and cbc national poetry slam.
she has self-produced four dub albums and her first book of poetry ‘art
on black’ by women’s press is scheduled to launch early 2006. d’bi.
believes in love. life. and revolushun.

Mondays in November: 7, 14, 21 and 28 from 6:30pm to 9pm
@ TWB

Fee: $52 (No Refunds)

Enrollment limited to 15 participants

Limited sliding scale spots available

Presented by the Toronto Women’s Bookstore

73 Harbord Street @ Spadina

416-922-8744

www.womensbookstore.com

2005-10-20T01:38:00.000-05:00

The Jagan Lecture Series 2005 presents

A Caribbean Dialogue with

Carolyn Cooper

Professor of Literary & Cultural Studies, Director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies and Coordinator of International Reggae Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMANCE BY TORONTO DUB POET AFUA COOPER

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE

SEXUAL POLITICS IN JAMAICAN DANCEHALL CULTURE

Saturday, October 22, 2005

7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Vari Hall Lecture Room A

York University, Keele Campus, Toronto

The saucy sexual discourse of Jamaican dancehall DJs is an essential element of their total performance repertoire. Like their calypsonian counterparts, dancehall DJs deploy pungent metaphors to elaborate the recurring identification of sex and food in Caribbean popular culture. Lady Saw and Shabba Ranks are exemplary exponents of this genre whose salacious lyrics are routinely dissed by their detractors as evidence of their creators’ moral degeneracy.

Conversely, Dr. Cooper argues that the oral/sexual politics of these brazen artists confirms the longevity of an African-derived cosmology in which the sacred and the profane, the body and the spirit are equally valorised.

Carolyn Cooper is Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus where she teaches Caribbean, African and African-American Literature. She is also the Director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, and Co-ordinator of the University’s International Reggae Studies Centre, an academic project she initiated.

Professor Cooper is the author of two books on Jamaican popular culture. The first, Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the ‘Vulgar’ Body of Jamaican Popular Culture, was published in the UK1993 and remains in print, having become somewhat of an academic bestseller. Her second book, Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large, was published in New York in September last year and promises to be as influential as her first.

Professor Cooper is an outspoken public intellectual who firmly believes that the knowledge produced in universities must be communicated to the wider society in a language that everybody can understand.

Dub Poet Dr. Afua Cooper will join Dr. Carolyn Cooper at the Jagan Lecture at
Vari hall, York University on 22 Oct. 2005, 7p.m. Afua Cooper will give a poetry performance.

Afua Cooper is one of Canada's most versatile poets. She is an accomplished writer and esteemed dub poet of Afro-Caribbean origin and comes in the tradition of the shamaness, the warner, the "four-eye" woman chanting flaming words. This poet incorporates African riddims and the musical vibes of the Black Diaspora in her poetry, which has a strong sense of history and place underscored by a feminist sensibility.

Her poems have been included in numerous anthologies worldwide, and have also been recorded on cassettes and CD's. Cooper has read at universities, schools, libraries, churches, community centres and daycare centres, and performed at music and poetry festivals nationally and internationally. Her debut Worlds Of Fire [In Motion] CD, has widened her already extensive reach. In addition to her literary work, Afua teaches history at the University of Toronto. She is the co-author of We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women's History University of Toronto Press, 1994), which won the prestigious Joseph Brant award for history. In addition, she edited Incantations and Utterances, (1999, Sister Vision Press) an anthology of 12 female poets, celebrating the legacy of dub and the power of the oral tradition.

In 2006, Harper Collins will release Afua Cooper’s book The Hanging of Angelique;the astonishing story of Marie-Joseph Angelique, a slave woman who was tortured after being convicted of starting a fire that destroyed a large part of Montreal in April 1734.

Afua Cooper lives in Toronto with her family and is a driving force within the Dub Poets Collective.

This is the Sixth Annual Jagan Lecture, commemorating the life and vision of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Caribbean thinker, politician, and political visionary.

The event is co-organized by CERLAC, LACS, York International, and the Jagan Lectures Planning Committee. More information:

cerlac@yorku.ca

416-736-5237.