Dr. Yvonne Shorter Brown, the renowned Caribbean scholar on diasporic African identities, slavery and memory, describes the black body as an archive: “It stores, imparts and remembers everything.” This panel brings together brilliant black writers of African descent, Maneo Mohale, Jillian Christmas, Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, and Zalika Reid-Benta, who all engage with the black femme body in their work, while pushing the boundaries of how blackness, femininity, sexuality, and embodied memory are made legible in the written word.
Event Type: Panel
Event Code: RET/SUN-3
Venue: Reliance Theatre, Emily Carr University
Date: Sunday, March 15, 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Cost: Pay What You Can (recommended: $12.50)
ASL Interpretation Available by Request Before February 15, 2020
Jillian Christmas is a poet, musician, clown, educator, organizer, and advocate in the arts community. Utilizing an anti-oppressive lens, Jillian has performed and facilitated workshops across the continent.
Maneo Mohale is a South African editor, feminist writer and poet. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Jalada, Prufrock, The Mail & Guardian, and others.
Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek is a poet. Her writing has won been nominated for several writing prizes. She lives on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations.
Zalika Reid-Benta is a Toronto-based writer whose debut short story collection Frying Plantain was longlisted for the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is currently working on a young-adult fantasy novel drawing inspiration from Jamaican folklore.