Spoken Word Saturday is a showcase of the amazing Spoken Word Poetry talent that can be found from coast to coast. Today, Spoken Word Saturday remembers Canadian dub poet legend Klyde Broox.

neo(literary Coup) by Klyde Broox

From CBC News Hamilton:

People are coming together this weekend to honour Klyde Broox, a Hamilton poet who became the first Black writer to win the City of Hamilton’s Arts Award for Literature in 2005, and was “a great artist” and “a great teacher.” Broox died on Jan. 21 after a short battle with cancer, at age 66.

On Sunday, February 11, Broox’s daughter will host “a celebration of life” dubbed “Klyde’s OutroDUBtion,” which will start at 2 p.m. at Gasworks, 141 Park St. North, Hamilton ON.

Matthew Green, the NDP Hamilton Centre member of Parliament, paid tribute to Broox during a speech in the House of Commons to mark the start of Black History Month. Green said Broox was “a beacon of literary brilliance and activism.” 

As he made Hamilton his home, “Broox’s journey from an award-winning dub poet to an international literary figure is a testament to the power of words to inspire change,” Green said.

“His accolades, including the Nathan Brissette Poetry Prize, the James Mr. Fellowship, and the Hamilton Arts Award, barely scratched the surface of his impact. Through works like Poem Storm and My Best Friend Is White, he challenged us to confront the complex racial dynamics with honesty and empathy. And he did so, bridging divides and celebrating our shared humanity. 

“In fact, more laudable than all of his formal accolades in life, [his] contribution was capturing contemporary oral Black history,” Green added. 

CBC News Hamilton

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