Global Spin on Spoken Word: International Spoken Word Showcase

Randell Adjei, Marina Alefosio, David Delisca, Shagufta Iqbal, Alicia Sometimes, Alexandra Stewart, Wana Udobang, Ifrah Hussein and Lady Vanessa

8:00pm

Friday, October 29

Making the most of our freedom to travel – digitally! Finger snaps at the read to give a warm welcome to some of the world’s leading spoken word poets, gracing the Festival stage live for a spirited performance of rhyme, repetition, improvisation and word play. Featuring artists calling in from around the world, including Australia, UK and the Caribbean, and include Randell Adjei, Marina Alefosio, David Delisca, Shagufta Iqbal, Alicia Sometimes, Alexandra Stewart, Wana Udobang, Ifrah Hussein and Lady Vanessa.

This event will take place on Zoom. A Zoom link will be emailed to event registrants within 24 hours of start time.

Presented in partnership with Toronto Poetry Project.

This event may contain strong language. Discretion is advised.

This event is only available to view live.

Performance

Making the most of our freedom to travel – digitally! Finger snaps at the read to give a warm welcome to some of the world’s leading spoken word poets, gracing the Festival stage live for a spirited performance of rhyme, repetition, improvisation and word play. Featuring artists calling in from around the world, including Australia, UK and the Caribbean, and include Randell Adjei, Marina Alefosio, David Delisca, Shagufta Iqbal, Alicia Sometimes, Alexandra Stewart, Wana Udobang, Ifrah Hussein and Lady Vanessa.

This event will take place on Zoom. A Zoom link will be emailed to event registrants within 24 hours of start time.

Presented in partnership with Toronto Poetry Project.

This event may contain strong language. Discretion is advised.

This event is only available to view live.

Performance

Featured Authors

Randell Adjei is an entrepreneur, speaker and spoken word practitioner who uses his gifts to empower the message of Alchemy. He was recently appointed as Ontario’s first Poet Laureate. Randell is the founder of one of Toronto's largest youth led initiatives, Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (R.I.S.E Edutainment). In 2018, R.I.S.E received the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Mayor’s Youth Arts Award. Randell is the author of I am Not my struggles, a powerful anthology released in 2018. Randell was also named CBC Metro Morning’s Torontonian of the Year in 2015 and NOW Magazine's Local Hero in May 2017. In 2020, Randell opened for President Barack Obama at the Economic Club of Canada.

Read more about Randell Adjei

Marina Alefosio

Marina Alefosio is a proud Samoan woman born and raised in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a passionate artist who has performed for the last 11 years in spoken word poetry and music, continuously learning new methods and modes of storytelling with the aim of supporting youth and communities to develop their sense of voice and purpose. She was part of the critically acclaimed South Auckland Poets Collective from 2010-2015 and continuously supports emerging artists and theatre groups through mentoring, workshops and more recently was part of the winning team Godmothers for the 2021 JAFA Slam Poetry teams competition.

Read more about Marina Alefosio

David Delisca, born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, raised in West Palm Beach, Florida and residing in Scarborough, is a writer, poet, actor and humorist. A versatile artist, he uses stories about the immigrant and diasporic experience, as well as other various human realities, to bridge realms of communication. His works and performances have been featured in Toronto Star, CBC and Netflix.

Read more about David Delisca

Shagufta K. Iqbal is the founder of Kiota Bristol, an award-winning writer, workshop facilitator and Tedx Speaker. She has been described by gal-dem as a poet whose work “leaves you validated but aching – her narratives are important, heart-wrenching and relatable.” Her poetry collection Jam Is For Girls, Girls Get Jam, has been recommended by Nikesh Shukla as “a social political masterclass.” Her poetry film Borders has won several awards and has been screened across international film festivals. She is currently writing her second poetry collection and debut novel.

Read more about Shagufta Iqbal

Alicia Sometimes

Alicia Sometimes is an Australian poet, writer and broadcaster. She has performed her spoken word and poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Her poems have been in Best Australian Science Writing, Best Australian Poems and more. She is director and co-writer of the art/science planetarium shows, Elemental and Particle/Wave. Her TedxUQ talk in 2019 was about combining art with science. In 2020 Alicia won the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize. She is completing a Boyd Garret residency for the City of Melbourne and Virtual Writer in Residency for Manchester City of Literature and Manchester Literature Festival.

Read more about Alicia Sometimes

Alexandra Stewart

Alexandra C. Stewart, 23 years old, is a history maker in the Caribbean Spoken Word community. The first to win the First Citizens National Poetry Slam twice (2020 & 2019) and the first to keep the title, two years in a row. She is passionate about performing, teaching and making connections. Alexandra is known for a wide variety of poems that start conversations and workshops that inspire people of all ages. You can find her on Instagram @talktothefro or check out her website alexandracstewart.com. She loves food, beaches, kdramas and people who buy her chapbook.

Read more about Alexandra Stewart

Wana Udobang is a multi-disciplinary storyteller working at the intersection of writing, poetry, performance and film. She has three studio albums Dirty Laundry, In memory of forgetting and Transcendence, which interrogate memory, familial bonds, healing and joy. She has been commissioned by Edinburgh International Festival, Deutsches Museum and ThankYou Australia as well as performed across Africa, Europe and North America. Wana runs Comfort Food poetry workshop which uses memories around food as a conduit to create poems that become recipes for joy. She also curates Culture Diaries; an archival project which uses multi-platform storytelling to document African artists. She is a 2021 University of IOWA International writing residency fellow.

Read more about Wana Udobang

Ifrah Hussein is a Somali-Canadian award-winning poet and author of An Anthology of Grief or the ways a Somali Woman Loves. Ifrah was the recipient of the Best Spoken Word Artist award by the ByBlacks People’s Choice Awards 2019. Ifrah represented Canada in Paris, France and was named among the top four countries at the poetry world cup. Ifrah is also the 2017 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion, making her the first woman to hold the national title and was also among the top five of 96 poets at the Women of the World poetry slam, making her the only Canadian to compete on finals-stage in its 12-year history.

Read more about Ifrah Hussein

Lady Vanessa is a Caleña, Colombiana. She lives in the Valle del Cauca, Calima region and is a visitor on Turtle Island. Lady Vanessa was born as a poet in Windhoek, Namibia. She is a multidisciplinary artist choosing to learn from as many mediums to her messages of healing across. Her workshops, motivational speeches, and poetry performances are based on accountability, integrity, perseverance and self-awareness. She is the 2018 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion and member of the League of Canadian Poets. She is the co-creator of Whiteface, playwright and performer of Three Ladies and creator of the Three Ladies Healing Method. Lady is also the founder of “Remix the Ritual” a multidisciplinary collective inspired by Hip Hop Kulture.

Read more about Lady Vanessa