AfriCANthology Canada


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Cover design for AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets, edited by A. Gregory Frankson


Reimagine the Future 
of Blackness in Canada

Truth spoken plainly and powerfully is difficult to dismiss and impossible to ignore. Edited with purpose by A. Gregory Frankson, AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets brings together some of Canada''s most influential dub, page, and spoken word poetic voices and gives them space to speak freely about their personal journeys in piercing verse and unapologetic prose. 

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About AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets

Black Perspectives Matter

AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets provides a timely, urgently relevant installment to the overall narrative about Blackness in this country. It is a set of searing sociocultural commentaries through the eyes of those who navigate the fraught politics of their Blackness in Canadian society on a day-to-day basis.

Recorded for Posterity

AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets will be a collection of essays and poems from a variety of emerging and established Black writers, dub poets and spoken word artists across Canada. Once published, it will serve as a chronicle of this remarkable moment in history, when Black people chose to record their histories of struggle, resistance and triumph in their own words.

Published for Wide Distribution

In collaboration with Presses Renaissance Press, AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets will be published in physical and digital formats and distributed to the mass market in February 2022.

Who is AfriCANthology for?

To date, there has never been a comprehensive volume written with the format of AfriCANthology about the contemporary experience of Black poets in Canada. It follows in the footsteps of other brilliant anthologies published in the recent past that place significant focus on Black poetic voices, such as The Great Black North in 2013 and Black Writers Matter in 2019.

                

The collection will generate significant popular interest in a world grappling with the implications of the Movement for Black Lives, especially after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on U.S. Memorial Day in May 2020 and other similar atrocities across North America and beyond. 


Readers who have an interest in cultural studies, sociology, race relations, diversity and inclusion, Canadian studies, Canadian Black history, African Canadian literature, dub poetry and spoken word will want a copy. As well, secondary school teachers can use this volume as a reference, since teaching spoken word and inviting poets into the classroom has become a more established custom for schools from coast to coast. Finally, university and college professors and instructors can use this text in the teaching of courses in sociology, art, history, Black studies, English literature, cultural studies, creative writing, and many other areas of academic practice. 

AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets 
Collaborators

Editor

A. Gregory Frankson

Greg Frankson, a.k.a. Ritallin, is a past poet laureate for the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership and former poetic commentator on CBC Radio One’s Here and Now Toronto.
(click on photo to learn more)
Publisher

Presses Renaissance Press

Renaissance was founded in May 2013 by a group of authors and designers who wanted to publish and market those stories which don’t always fit neatly in a genre, or a niche, or a demographic. Like the happy panbibliophiles we are, we opened our submissions, with no other guideline than finding a Canadian book we would fall in love with enough that we would want to publish and sell. (click on logo to learn more)

Contributors

Anthology Contributors

The contributors to AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets represent a diverse cross-section of the geographic, linguistic, ethnocultural, experiential, and identity-driven imperatives of the political, social and cultural moment -- from new professional practitioners to award-winning icons recognized the world over. 

(click on photo to see contributor bios)

About AfriCANthology Canada

As the anthology project was being active developed, it quickly became apparent that there was a greater opportunity to leverage the publication to provide even greater benefit to Canadian society. With more attention now being paid to the historical and contemporary treatment of Black communities and peoples across Canada, AfriCANthology Canada was created to document, amplify, examine and elevate Black Canadian culture from the past and in the present, for the future. 


Learn more about the organization in the following tabs. If you'd like more information on how to join our project, feel free to reach out to us at any time via this website, email, phone, or our social media channels.

How Can You Get Involved?

Become an Active Contributor to AfriCANthology Canada



There are a number of ways that you can become involved in building AfriCANthology Canada. Beyond spreading the word about AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets in advance of its publication and purchasing a copy of upon its release, you can also:

  • Make a tax-deductible donation to help defray our start-up costs via our charitable partner (Carion Fenn Foundation)
  • Volunteer to help organize an anthology launch event in your community
  • Become a member of our Board of Directors


Don't wait to throw your support behind this incredible initiative. Click the button below to become engaged TODAY!


A Not-For-Profit that Builds for the Future

Organizational Overview

The entity known as AfriCANthology Canada, a federally incorporated not-for profit organization, began its existence on April 1, 2021. Our initial projects are to support the launch of AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets, lay the foundation for additional published volumes of the AfriCANthology series, and to secure funding that help us create and actualize additional elements of our ambitious organizational vision.


Over the coming weeks and months, we will be adding to our online presence by activating our full website here at africanthology.ca, as well as our full social media presence on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other channels via @africanthology. We would be honoured if you chose to join us, donate to us, and spread the word.

What Does AfriCANthology Canada Seek to Achieve?

Vision, Mission and Objectives

Our vision is "to be acknowledged as the ultimate repository of the contemporary Black Canadian cultural experience guiding future analysis of, and education about, 21st century African Canadian cultural history." Our mission is "to anthologize, contextualize, memorialize, and preserve the experiences of contemporary African Canadians for the educational and cultural benefit of current and future generations." From the root of the printed series of volumes, to be collectively known as the AfriCANthology of Black Canadian Culture, grows the digital archives, educational programming, cultural content, events and other activities we will engage in as we serve Black Canadians specifically and the general Canadian population more generally in the months and years to come.


In order to achieve its mission while striving to fulfill its vision, AfriCANthology Canada will pursue objectives based upon the following:

  • Documentation – Create, curate, and disseminate a series of literary anthology volumes that document the contemporary experiences of Black Canadian cultural figures in a wide variety of fields of practice, cultural disciplines, and professional pursuits.
  • Amplification – Supplement the anthology series by creating a digital archive of interviews, articles, biographies, essays, and other historically significant content in visual, audio, artistic, and multidisciplinary formats.
  • Examination – Encourage the study and analysis of its gathered resources, stories, and digital archival information to better understand the multidimensional complexity of Black Canadian cultural history within the broader diasporic and global context.
  • Elevation – Support individuals and organizations that seek to utilize its resources to uplift, advance and improve the lives of Black people in Canada and beyond.


These guiding principles will help those who can best leverage the results of our activities – researchers, curriculum developers, academics, educators, community organizations, government agencies, youth groups, families, and individual Canadians – to create social change, improve educational outcomes, increase our body of knowledge, and foster greater social cohesion within the African Canadian community and between the Black community and broader Canadian society.

Share Your Feedback

Do you have questions, comments or feedback about AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets and/or AfriCANthology Canada? Do you have a media inquiry? Please fill out the contact form at the link below. 

Photo on unsplash by Daniel Bosse

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