Poet and Educator Lillian Allen Speaks at Harvard University

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Oct. 26, 2013 - PRLog -- The Harvard University community is in for a treat when Professor Lillian Allen speaks there on Monday, October 28th, 2013 at the Barker Center - Thompson Reading Room, 4 to 6 pm. (located between Quincy and Prescott Streets). Allen's talk, 'Reloading the Can(n)on with the Revolutionary Tea Party: The Poetics of Dub, is part of the Canada Harvard Seminar series, produced by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Dept. of English and American Literature and Language, http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/canada_program/seminars-0.

Leading Canadian poet Lillian Allen, born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, left in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the City University of New York. She lived for a time in Kitchener, Ontario, before settling in Toronto, where she continued her education at York University, gaining a B.A. After meeting Oku Onuora in 1978, she began working in dub poetry. She released her first recording, Dub Poet: The Poetry of Lillian Allen, in 1983.

Acclaimed by Ms. Magazine, Allen won the Juno Award for Best Reggae/Calypso Album for Revolutionary Tea Party in 1986 and Conditions Critical in 1988. Both albums were produced by Billy Bryans, the renowned percussionist for groundbreaking Canadian band, the Parachute Club.

In 2006 Allen and her work were the subject of an episode of the television series Heart of a Poet produced by Canadian filmmaker Maureen Judge.

Allen is a Faculty of Liberal Studies Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU), where she teaches creative writing.

She recently held the distinction of being the first Canada Council Writer-in-Residence for Queen’s University’s Department of English.

Allen also co-produced and co-directed Blak Wi Blakk, a documentary about the Jamaican dub poet Mutabaruka.

For more about Lillian Allen and links to her videos and audio recordings, visit http://www.lillianallen.ca.