SINGLE ONION #156
2019 Lecture Series Part Two
WHAT: The Single Onion continues its 2019 Lecture Series with a special event to celebrate Black History Month, featuring Tola Dee, Phree Boy, Wakefield Brewster, and Bethel Afework.
WHEN: Thursday, February 7th, at 7:00 p.m. (*Note the change from our usual third Thursday for this month*)
WHERE: Shelf Life Books, 100 – 1302 4th St. SW (shelflifebooks.ca)
About the readers:
Tola Dee is an aspiring Canadian filmmaker, poet and a founding member of Darkberry Creative, a group of diverse local artists based in Calgary. With a degree in Fine Arts, Tola began writing poetry as a creative outlet to overcome misfortunes and difficulties she experienced early in life. For Tola, writing is a profound expression of self, and it gives her an opportunity to make thought-provoking social commentaries through her words. In 2013, her semi-autobiographical poem was turned into a short film. Tola credits her style and influences to the likes of Lillian Allen, Fela Kuti, and Ursula Rucker. The filmmaker and poet continues to perform her inspirational poetry at events, festivals and open mics. Currently Tola is working on her third and fourth films, and she hopes to make more films dealing with social responsibility as the underlying theme.
Phree Boy is a dramatist and a humorist who delivers his artistry through poetry, music, sketch and short film. Raised in Montreal, his environment and experiences are elements which he uses to create. Refusing to take a path that wasn’t designed for him, he chose to document his journey through a mixture of different art forms.
Wakefield Brewster is a Veteran Professional Performance Slam Poet and has been hitting mics since the year of the New Millennium. In a point-and-shoot fashion, he is also currently wearing these hats: Spoken Word Artist, Toronto Slam Poetry Champion, 3-Time Calgary Poetry Slam Champion & Team Captain (2006, 2008, and 2009), Poetry Reading Series Founder (Poésie à la Pâtisserie, Pitbull Poetry Reading Series), Poetry Coach/Mentor, Poet/Teacher-In-Residence, Literacy Advocate, Vocal Coach, Classical Pianist, Percussionist, Father, Struggling Youth Mentor, Massage Therapist/Healing Arts Advocate, Canine Massage Therapist, 1st Dan, Black Belt, World Tae Kwon Do Federation, and Humanities Advocate. He finds that underneath these many, many hats and the many, many hoodies he wears, resides a wonderful life. He would like to Thank You all sincerely for being a part of it.
Bethel Afework: BASK is a duo formed by Bethel Afework and Siddharth Kataria. The musical compositions are inspired by various genres like rock and indie folk. The lyrics to the songs are in the form of spoken word that hopes to push the limit in controversy and experimentation related to topics like pop culture and politics. Their debut mixtape “Konvalence” is now out on all streaming platforms.
The Single Onion takes place the third Thursday of the month, nine times a year. Our event schedule can always be found at:
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We gratefully acknowledge the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, The League of Canadian Poets and the Calgary Arts Development
