Chopping up an English Professor with a Machete
Poet, playwright, Officer of the Order of Canada, University of Toronto Professor, George Elliott Clarke is a heck of a busy guy.
Here he is talking about his upcoming projects at a recent appearance at the Academy of the (Im)possible:
He’s also Toronto’s Poet Laureate, (following Dennis Lee in 2001 , Pier Giorgio Di Cicco in 2004 and Dionne Brand in 2009) which makes him the City’s literary ambassador for poetry, language and the arts.
April is National Poetry Month (this is actually the fifteenth year that Canada has been celebrating it) so on Monday April 15 at 7pm, Clarke will be hosting a night of poetry and spoken word performance at Toronto Reference Library with guests Andrea Thompson and Pamela Mordecai.
The first thing one notices about Clarke in performance is his infectious good humour, a contagious happiness which lets him cross ALL sorts of boundaries and taboos, whether he's discussing chopping up an English professor with a machete or reinventing Othello as a big sweetie:
He's joined by slam poet, spoken word performer, freelance writer, TV and Radio Host Andrea Thompson. Here she is a clip from Paul Devlin's 1998 documentary SlamNation:
Pamela Mordecai rounds out the trio. Her new collection, Subversive Sonnets, comments on love, history politics and family.
Books by George Elliott Clarke:
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by George Elliott Clarke Eyewear Publishing 2013 |
by George Elliott Clarke Goose Lane Editions, 2009 |
by George Elliott Clarke Polestar Book Publishers, 2000 |
Books by Andrea Thompson
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by Adrea Thompson Ekstasis Editions, 1999. |
Other tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out Editors: D.A. Adebe Andrea Thompson Inanna Publications and Education Inc., 2010 |
Books by Pamela Mordecai
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by Pamela Mordecai TSAR, 2012. |
by Pamela Mordecai Goose Lane Editions |
by Pamela Mordecai Sister Vision Press, 1995 |
Toronto's Poet Laureate: George Elliott Clarke and Friends
Monday April 15, 2013
7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Toronto Reference Library Atrium
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