World Poetry Day featuring Lillian Allen and special guests

Image of Lillian Allen, Chimwemwe Undi and Joshua Whitehead
Saturday, March 21, 2015 - 11:00pm

An evening with internationally-acclaimed dub poet, Lillian Allen with live musical accompaniment from musicians Ashley AuBrady Allard, and Brendan Kinley. Allen will be joined by special guest spoken word artists Chimwemwe Undi and Joshua Whitehead. This event hosted by Charlene Diehl and co-presented by CV2 Magazineand Prairie Fire Magazine in celebration of World Poetry Day.

Lillian Allen is a Creative Writing Professor at the Ontario College of Art & Design University in Toronto. She is an award winning and internationally renowned poet. Professor Allen has pioneered and specialized in dub poetry, a new genre of English Literature which is a highly politicized form of poetry preferring a black aesthetic and specific cultural codification. Allen is responsible for opening up the form to insist and engrave feminist content and sensibilities. Professor Allen’s work in poetry, theatre, fiction, non-fiction, writing for children, and experimental writing forms has been extensively published, performed, and recorded.

Chimwemwe Undi is a poet and an arts organizer. Her work is informed largely by the immigrant experience, a religious upbringing, and various people, places, and things. She was an all-star ensemble member at the 2015 Victoria Spoken Word Festival, and a featured artist at the 2014 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. She runs the Speaking Crow and Voices, Ink., the Winnipeg Youth Slam. Undi lives in Winnipeg.

Joshua Whitehead is pursuing an M.A. in Cultural Studies at the University of Winnipeg while focusing on the politics of critical race scholarship. He is the co-editor of CV2’s “Poetry Lives Here: Young Poet Supplement” and the recent co-editor of UWinnipeg’s juice journal. His work has been featured in Prairie Firejuice, Manitoba First Nation Educational Resource Centre, the Canadian Aboriginal Writers and Arts Challenge, and the upcoming issue of rip/torn collective.

Venue & Address: 
McNally Robinson Winnipeg Grant Park Mall Atrium 1120 Grant Avenue. Winnipeg, MB. R3M 2A6.
Website: 
http://mcnallyrobinson.com
Phone: 
<p>1.800.561.1833</p>
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