Ahmed Ali | |
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 | |
| Born | November 28, 1984 Mogadishu, Somalia |
| Nationality | Somali-Canadian |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Poet Laureate of Edmonton |
| Website | www |
Ahmed Ali, better known by the pseudonym Knowmadic, is a Somali-Canadian poet, writer, actor, musician, and youth activist. [1]
Ali was born November 28, 1984, in Mogadishu, to a nomadic father and a mother whose family were farmers. His name is a portmanteau of knowledge and nomadic. [2] His family immigrated first to Italy in 1989, then to Canada. While in Italy, Ali and his 3 older brothers stayed in boarding schools. Upon graduating, he attended Humber College in Toronto, Ontario for Comedy writing and performance. [3] Ali was introduced to spoken word in 2009 by Titilope Sonuga, who curated a regular poetry night called Rouge Poetry; She invited Ali and others to help her found the Breath in Poetry Collective. [4]
In 2011, Ali and team Edmonton won the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word championship. [5] In 2013, Ali received an opportunity to be Artist in residence at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Seattle, Washington, initiating his career as a full-time artist. In 2017, he was runner-up for public school board trustee in Ward A in Edmonton. [6] In January 2018, Ali hosted the APAP Annual Awards Ceremony, honoring Martin Luther King. [1] He served a two-year term as Edmonton's Poet Laureate, from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2019, as its seventh Poet Laureate. [7] [8]
Ali sits on community boards including the Edmonton Arts Council where he chairs the equity committee. [9] He also performs speaking engagements at local schools, [10] and has participated in vigils against violence.
Ali is married and has two daughters. [11]
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) of Arezzo were the first to be crowned poets laureate after the classical age, respectively in 1315 and 1342. In Britain, the term dates from the appointment of Bernard André by Henry VII of England. The royal office of Poet Laureate in England dates from the appointment of John Dryden in 1668.
Di Brandt often stylized as di brandt, is a Canadian poet and scholar from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She became Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate in 2018.
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Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a "catchall" term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on phonaesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. Since 1989, she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she held the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English from 1993 to 2020; as of 2020 she holds the chair of Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.
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Gail Sidonie Sobat is a Canadian writer, educator, singer and performer. She is the founder and coordinator of YouthWrite, a writing camp for children, a non-profit and charitable society. Her poetry and fiction, for adults and young adults, are known for her controversial themes. For 2015, Sobat was one of two writers in residence with the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries. She is also the founder of the Spoken Word Youth Choir in Edmonton.
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The National Youth Poet Laureate is a title held in the United States by a young person who demonstrates skill in the arts, particularly poetry and/or spoken word, is a strong leader, is committed to social justice, and is active in civic discourse and advocacy. It is a title awarded annually to one winner among four finalists, most of whom have been chosen as the Poet Laureate for their city and region.
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This is a list of Municipal Poets Laureate in Alberta, Canada.
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