DON'T MISS OUR NEXT SHOW! WEDNESDAY, DEC 13, 2023 • 7PM

Afua Cooper is a multi-award-winning and celebrated speaker, scholar, historian, author, poet, performer, and social and cultural commentator for organizations worldwide committed to building diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies.

Essence Magazine named her as one of the 25 women who are shaping the world. Dr. Cooper’s expertise in a

Afua Cooper is a multi-award-winning and celebrated speaker, scholar, historian, author, poet, performer, and social and cultural commentator for organizations worldwide committed to building diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies.

Essence Magazine named her as one of the 25 women who are shaping the world. Dr. Cooper’s expertise in and contributions to the arts, history, and education were additionally recognized when she was presented with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award in 2015 from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

Additionally, Dr. Cooper served as Halifax’s seventh Poet Laureate, and is the author of six books of poetry, including the critically acclaimed Copper Woman and Other Poems and the award-winning Black Matters. She has published two historical novels, which garnered Canadian and American awards. Her work in the creative arts has been recognized with the Premier of Ontario Award nomination for Excellence in the Arts, a Governor General’s Award nomination, the Portia White Prize, Nova Scotia’s highest award for artistic excellence, and internationally with the Beacon of Freedom Award for her book My Name is Phillis Wheatley. 

A founder of the Canadian Dub poetry movement, Dr. Cooper served as creative director of the Dub Poets Collective and was one of the organizers of several international dub poetry festivals. 

Her co-authored publication We’re Rooted Here, and They Can’t Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women’s History won the Joseph Brant prize for the best history book. Her ground-breaking book on Canadian slavery, The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Slavery in Canada and the Burning of Old Montreal, was nominated for the Governor General’s Award. The CBC named Angelique one of Canada’s top 100 books. 

Dr. Cooper holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, with expertise in African Canadian history and culture, Black women’s history, gender, slavery, and abolition. She is a full professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, where she holds a prestigious Killam Research Chair. From 2011 to 2017, Dr. Cooper was the James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University, Halifax. She is also the founder of the Black Canadian Studies Association, an organization that she chaired for ten years, and the Dalhousie Black Faculty and Staff Caucus. 

The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke hails from Windsor, Nova Scotia, as of 1960. Clarke is also a pioneering scholar of African-Canadian literature, with two major tomes to his credit: Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature (2002) and Dire

The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke hails from Windsor, Nova Scotia, as of 1960. Clarke is also a pioneering scholar of African-Canadian literature, with two major tomes to his credit: Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature (2002) and Directions Home: Approaches to African-Canadian Literature (2012). 

A professor of English at the University of Toronto, Clarke has taught at Duke, McGill, the University of British Columbia, and Harvard. He holds eight honorary doctorates, plus appointments to the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada at the rank of Officer. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. His recognitions include the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre Fellowship (US), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the Premiul Poesis (Romania), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and International Fellow Poet of the Year, Encyclopedic Poetry School [2019] (China). 

His acclaimed titles include Whylah Falls (1990, translated into Chinese), Beatrice Chancy (1999, translated into Italian), Execution Poems(2001), Blues and Bliss (selected poems, 2009), I & I (2008), Illicit Sonnets (U.K., 2013), Traverse (2015), Canticles II (MMXX) (2020), Canticles III (MMXXII) (2022), and J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence) (2021). 

Clarke penned the libretto for James Rolfe’s triumphant, tragic opera, Beatrice Chancy (1998), plus two lyrics for Four the Moment’s 2022 Polaris Heritage Prize-winning album, We’re Still Standing (1987).

Our first open mic in October 2023 was such a success, we're making it a recurring part of the show! If you want to touch the mic (one poem each, 5 min. maximum, unless the poems are less than two minutes each, then two poems is acceptable), our sign-up sheet opens at 6:30 pm, with the open mic beginning at 7 pm SHARP. First come, first s

Our first open mic in October 2023 was such a success, we're making it a recurring part of the show! If you want to touch the mic (one poem each, 5 min. maximum, unless the poems are less than two minutes each, then two poems is acceptable), our sign-up sheet opens at 6:30 pm, with the open mic beginning at 7 pm SHARP. First come, first served, limited slots available. Let's hear you SPIT YOUR FIRE!