Item - 2023.EC3.1

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:  

1. City Council appoint Lillian Allen to the position of City of Toronto Poet Laureate for a term beginning May 10, 2023, until December 31, 2026, or until a successor is appointed.

The Chair recognized April as National Poetry month and introduced Lillian Allen, who has been nominated by a panel of experts to be Toronto’s next Poet Laureate.  The Chair also thanked outgoing Poet Laureate, Albert Moritz, on behalf of the City and the Committee for his generous service.

Lillian Allen read a selection of her work.

The purpose of this report is to appoint Lillian Allen as the seventh City of Toronto Poet Laureate.

An advocate for poetry, language and the arts, Toronto’s Poet Laureate attends events across the city to promote and attract people to the literary world. The position, which was inaugurated in 2001, honours a Toronto poet whose work displays excellence and who has written on themes relevant to Torontonians. The Poet Laureate’s mandate also includes the creation of a legacy project that will be unique to the individual.

Lillian Allen is a professor of creative writing at Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU). Two-time JUNO Award winner and trailblazer in the field of spoken word and dub poetry, Allen artistically explores the aesthetics of old and new sounds with her powerful reggae dub poetry/spoken word recordings.