Between the Lines: An Evening of Readings & Performance

Experience an evening of readings and performances by Lillian Allen, Stephanie Wong Ken, Jayda Marley, and Fiona Raye Clarke, celebrating the depth and diversity of Caribbean and Canadian storytelling.

About the Presenters

Jayda Marley is a 24 year old nationally acclaimed Afro-Indigenous poet and youth activist of Ojibwe & Jamaican Descent born and raised in Toronto. As a former competing poet; Jayda holds the 1st place National championship title of “Voices of Today 2018.” She is the Co-founder of the non-profit movement Not Another Black Life as well as the founder and Program Director of “BETWEEN THE LINES” a creative writing program designed to empower BIPOC youth writers in the GTA. She has performed in various spaces and worked with many organizations including but not limited to, Parliament Hill, When Sisters Speak, Flaunt it Movement, Nuit Blanche Toronto, Toronto’s Union Station, Converse International, Nia Centre of the Arts, University of Toronto and The Art Gallery of Ontario. In Black History month 2024, Jayda was commissioned to write “A Black Star Is Born” for the Toronto Raptors. Most recently she facilitated “Pass the Mic” a creative writing program in collaboration with the Art Gallery of York University and the Jane/Finch Centre.

Jayda works diligently to create artistic and community driven spaces within Toronto, and beyond.

Fiona Raye Clarke is a Trinidadian-Canadian award-winning writer and community-engaged artist. Her writing and poetry have appeared online, in print, and on the stage in Quill & Quire, the Ex-Puritan Town Crier, carousel, and These Lands: A Collection of Voices by Black Poets in Canada published by the League of Canadian Poets and edited by Chelene Knight, and elsewhere. A top ten finalist for the Magee TV Diverse Screenwriters Award, she was the winner of the CaribbeanTales CineFAM Short Film Challenge for her co-created film “Intersecting.” Fiona was awarded Phase Two funding for the CBC/Radio-Canada and Canada Council for the Arts Creation Accelerator for her co-created web series, MIXED UP. She has been a past Diaspora Dialogues Long Form Mentorship and DD-TD Black Playwright Mentorship mentee.

Raised in Florida, Steph Wong Ken is a Chinese-Jamaican writer and filmmaker based in Tkaronto, Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Walrus, C-Magazine, and Maisonneuve, and she has received fellowships from Tin House and Kundiman. She is currently working on a novel and her first feature film. She's repping the island of Jamaica, all day, every day.

Lillian Allen The city of Toronto’s 7th Poet Laureate is an acclaimed foremother of Canadian Poetry. She is a writer/performer, and a long-time arts activist. She is an international exponent of dub poetry with its politically charged reggae-infused aesthetic of resistance, a call to love, peace, poetry and rebellion. She is a professor at OCAD University and a two-time Canadian Juno Award winner for her albums Revolutionary Tea Party and Conditions Critical, Dr Allen is an arts activist and a leading international exponent of spoken word and dub poetry. She mentors the mentors and works inter-generationally across cultures. In 2024, the Ontario Arts Council and the League of Canadian Poets established two permanent Spoken Word prizes to honour her contribution to poetry. She travels across the country and internationally to read & perform her poetry and give lectures on emerging and new poetics. A Gustafson Distinguished Poet, and a Writer’s Union Margaret Laurence Lecture Prize recipient, her most recent publications are; Make the World New, published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press (2021) and Muttertongue in collaboration with Gary Barwin and Greg Betts, published by Exile Editions (2025) and Siren Records just released the Album Muttertongue -What is a Word in Utter Space. Lillian’s current art practice veers into utterance and vocal sonics exploring pre-language and post-language poetics digging into her cultural roots and meshing and mixing contemporary elements of music, sound and literary culture. LillianAllen.ca

Alten Wilmot is a playwright, performer, producer, and multidisciplinary artist based in the Waterloo Region and Toronto. Their work amplifies the voices of second-generation Caribbean, Queer, and MAD communities, centering stories that find meaning in the unresolved through comedy and messy emotions.

As a performer, Alten has appeared as an actor, singer, and dancer on stages across Canada, as well as in film and television. They are the founder of Unwrap Theatre, where they have led over 25 premiere productions, and have independently contributed to more than 50 projects across Canada and internationally - collaborating with institutions such as CBC, Global TV, Harbourfront Centre, NBCUniversal, Guelph Dance, and Theatre Passe Muraille.

Their work explores vulnerability and authenticity, bringing humour to heartbreak and grace to chaos. Alten has been recognized with a Buddies in Bad Times Queer Emerging Artist Award, an ArtworxTO Emerging Artist Award, and a Waterloo Region Arts Award. They have held residencies with The National Ballet of Canada, Obsidian Theatre, MT Space, and others.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Caribbean Vibrations is a proud supporter of the 2025 Canadian-Caribbean Literary Showcase.Caribbean Vibrations is Canada’s longest-running 30-minute weekly television series dedicated to Caribbean entertainment, culture, and lifestyle, spotlighting stories from the Afro-Black Caribbean diaspora across the globe.