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Book Launch—Soundin’ Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship, by Paul db Watkins

February 6 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

$5
Graphic Image for Book Launch—Soundin' Canaan by Paul db Watkins. The Vault Cafe, featuring Sonnet L'Abbe and Neil Surkan. Doors: 6:30 PM, Readings 7–8 PM.

We are pleased to announce the initial book launch for Soundin’ Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenshipby Improvising Futures team member, Paul db Watkins on Thursday, February 6, at 7:00 PM (PST).

The event will take place in person at The Vault Café, (499 Wallace Street, Nanaimo, BC). The book launch is by donation (5$ suggested).

Learn more about the book and pre-order by following this link!

More About the Event:

This initial book launch will feature poet and musician Sonnet L’Abbé (Sonnet’s Shakespeare) and Nanaimo Poet Laureate Neil Surkan (Unbecoming). The author will also be performing remixed versions of sections from the book.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the readings will run from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

More About the Book:

Part exploration of a key group of Black Canadian poets, part literary, cultural, and musical history, Soundin’ Canaan demonstrates how music in Black Canadian poetry is not solely aesthetic, but a form of social, ethical, and political expression.

Soundin’ Canaan refers to the code name often used for Canada during the Black migration to Canada. The book analyzes the contributions of key Black Canadian poets, including their poetic styles and their performances. The book has several key objectives, including recuperating the collision of the historical and the Biblically derived figure of Canaan, the promised land of freedom and security for an African American population seeking to leave the shackles of slavery behind and the northern terminus of the underground railroad. Centering around the poetry of George Elliott Clarke, Dionne Brand, M. NourbeSe Philip, Wayde Compton, and rapper K’naan, it delves into how these poets draw inspiration from African American and Afro-diasporic musical genres, such as blues, jazz, reggae and dub, hip-hop, and remix, to reshape the notions of identity and citizenship. Soundin’ Canaan asks: what does Canadian citizenship sound like, especially when voiced by Black Canadian poets who embrace a fluid and multicultural form of citizenship that moves between local and global spaces, much like music does?

More About the Presenter:

Paul db Watkins is a Professor of English at Vancouver Island University. He is also a research team member with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). He has published widely on multiculturalism, hip-hop, Canadian poetry, jazz, DJ culture, and improvisation. Under his DJ alias, DJ Techné, he has completed several DJ projects that explore the spaces between poetry, hip-hop, and jazz.

Details

Date:
February 6
Time:
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Cost:
$5
Event Category:
Event Tags:
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Organizer

Paul db Watkins

Venue

The Vault Cafe
499 Wallace Street
Nanaimo, BC Canada
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International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation IICSI House,
9 University Avenue East,
Guelph, ON,
N1H 1M8
Tel: 519-824-4120 Ext. 53885 | [email protected]

Send mail to:
IICSI House
9 University Avenue East
Guelph, Ontario
N1H 1M8
improv@uoguelph.ca