Lillian Allen

Read more: Repeating Refrains at Regent Park: Lillian Allen’s Riddim Lines by Luis Jacob

Lillian Allen, who grew up in Jamaica, moved with her family as a teenager, studying in New York and Toronto. Founder of the Toronto International Dub Poetry Festival and a variety of cultural organizations, such as Fresh Arts that empower youth, Allen has spent over four decades writing, publishing, performing and doing workshop presentations to audiences around the globe.

A recognized cultural advocate and educator on issues of diversity, equity, cross cultural collaborations, and the power of art, she has worked, locally, nationally and internationally. Her insightful and inspiring lectures and performances have taken her as far as Jamaica and Switzerland. She has also held the post of distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario.

In 1990, Lillian Allen participated in Siting Resistance, an Embassy Cultural House multi-disciplinary program coordinated by Ron Benner. Siting Resistance was hosted at both the ECH gallery space and throughout the Embassy Hotel, as well as various other locations including the Forest City Gallery, Museum London and the Cross Cultural Learner Centre. An afternoon poetry event on Sunday Sept. 9, 1990, which included Lillian Allen, jamila ismail (Vancouver/Hong Kong) and Lee Maracle (Salish/Cree, 1950-2021), was organized by Jamelie Hassan. For more information, please visit Allen's website here.

An excerpt from the London Free Press column, “What’s Happening This Weekend” featuring Lillian Allen and The Revolutionary Tea Party at The Embassy Hotel for "Siting Resistance" programmed by Ron Benner. The paper is dated Friday, September 7, 1990.

Works by Lillian Allen

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The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.