
Afua Cooper
is one of Canada's most versatile poets. She is an accomplished writer
and esteemed dub poet of Afro-Caribbean origin and comes in the tradition
of the shamaness, the warner, the four-eyešwoman chanting
flaming words. This poet incorporates African riddims and the musical
vibes of the Black Diaspora in her poetry, which has a strong sense
of history and place underscored by a feminist sensibility.
Her poems
have been included in numerous anthologies worldwide, and have also been
recorded on cassettes and CD's. Cooper has read at universities, schools,
libraries, churches, community centres and daycare centres, and performed
at music and poetry festivals nationally and internationally. Her debut
Worlds Of Fire [In Motion] CD, has widened her already extensive reach.
In addition to her literary work, Afua teaches history at the University
of Toronto. She is the co-author of We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull
Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women's History University of Toronto
Press, 1994), which won the prestigious Joseph Brant award for history.
In addition, she edited Incantations and Utterances, (1999, Sister Vision
Press) an anthology of 12 female poets, celebrating the legacy of dub
and the power of the oral tradition.
In 2002,
Afua Cooper also co-authored the groundbreaking publication: The Underground
Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto! Cooperšs scholarly endeavours have made
a vast contribution to gender studies in African North American history
and historiography. She says her academic and artistic personas are intertwined,
feeding off each other. She was the winner of Torontošs celebrated Harry
Jerome Award for professional excellence, in 2004.
Afua lives
in Toronto with her family and is a driving force within the Dub Poets
Collective.