Lillian Allen
Toronto
Poet Laureate
Dub Poet. Educator. Spoken Word Artist.
My Toronto
Poetic Gesture
Watch Lillian share part of her 2009 poem “Toronto – pOetic gEsture” and speak about the history of dub poetry and her work in Toronto. Video directed and produced by Blake Hannahson for Heritage Toronto. Music by Samuel Gottlieb.
Get your copy of
Lillian Allen’s latest book!
Make the World New
The Poetry of Lillian Allen
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Lillian Allen’s recordings are available from Spotify, Bandcamp and other streaming outlets
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“Allen’s work may be seen as a form of popular education. Her classroom is the streets, the concert, the reading – wherever a community of listeners and cultural workers are called together to register joy in the struggles for social change”
Brenda Carr, Ariel Journal
Poet Laureate
Lillian Allen — Toronto’s 7th Poet Laureate, selected by a panel of poetry experts to serve as Toronto’s new Poet Laureate. Allen’s appointment will be considered by Economic and Community Development Committee on April 25, then by City Council on May 10, 2023
Community Leader
Lillian Allen — grassroots artist, cultural activist and university professor — is considered a godmother of rap/hiphop, dub and spoken word.
Diverse Pedagogy
Lillian Allen’s work is used across the educational spectrum, encompassing learning from primary to post graduate studies.
Literary and Performance Dub Pioneer
A pioneering exponent of the highly politicized form of dub poetry created in Jamaica by Oku, popularized in Britain by Linton Kewsi Johnson and Benjamin Zephaniah, Allen embedded feminist voice and brings world music influences and experimental sensibilities to the literary dub art form.
Lillian Allen is available for readings, lectures, community workshops, concert and club performances.
Send booking queries through the online form.
Lillian Allen
GET IN TOUCH
Lillian would love to hear from you. You can visit Lillian on Facebook or Twitter.
And you can contact her at info@lillianallen.ca or leave a message below