Free Times Cafe - 320 College Street, Toronto

The WordSpell Collective brings you some of the most brilliant voices in spoken word! WordSpell is the only series bringing together talented established and emerging women and gender non-binary spoken word artists on a recurring basis in Toronto since 2012!

FEATURE'S BIOS:

Internationally acclaimed poet/performer and language innovator, LILLIAN ALLEN works at the intersection of dub, sound and rebel poetics. She has written several critically acclaimed books of poetry and has received two Juno awards for her albums; Revolutionary Tea Party and Conditions Critical. We know that some things get better with age and now in her sage years, Lillian remains an instigator of all things radical taking poetry both back to its roots and into new realms. She is a professor of Creative Writing at OCAD University where she is leading the launch of a contemporary, cutting edge BFA in Creative Writing – to begin September 2019.

MICHELLE HILLYARD (she/her) is an award-winning spoken word poet from what is colonially known as Mississauga. She's performed on stages across Canada, including the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam finals in Vancouver and Canadian Festival of Spoken Word semi finals as a part of the 2018 Burlington Poetry Slam team. She is the poetry editor of Alt-Minds Literary Magazine, a publication that focuses on exploring the topics of mental health, and neurodivergence. She helps run, and does workshops for, the Mississauga Writers Group, and has recently joined the board of Spoken Word Canada. Proudly neurodivergent, her work focuses on the topics of mental health, acceptance and body positivity.