D'BI YOUNG

born in jamaica, raised in whitfield town kingston and in downtown toronto canada, d’bi.young is a dynamite–socially–conscious–trail–blazing

tour-de-force, whose reputation precedes her. a dubpoet, playwright-performer, and educator, she identifies primarily as a storyteller, believing

that storytelling encompasses everything she does. young is one of north america’s most celebrated artists, fast becoming a global phenomenon.

her unique fusion of dubpoetry, theatre, and critical analyses produces a pepper-pot of rhythmic storytelling that crosses and questions cultural

boundaries, social norms and stereotypes. she recently completed an international tour of her first full length album, wombanisfesto – a

celebration of the fierce, the fearless, and the feminist in all of us – playing to sold-out houses in the caribbean, north america, europe, and

afrika. the lp boasts a rebellious collection of sixteen cross-genre dubtryp tracks, soaked in her gritty awe-inspiring delivery; featuring musicians

from havana, montreal, and toronto as well as the genius works of cuban producer pablo herrera and armenian- egyptian producer haig

vartzbedian. young’s career highlights include: global touring to europe, the caribbean, and afrika, featuring in the short film yes/no by brian johnson alongside margaret atwood, leonard cohen, dennis lee, michael ondaatje, and karen solie; featuring at ted toronto; appearing on broadway in hbo’s def poetry jam; starring in lord have mercy, canada’s first multi-ethnic sitcom; publishing two collections of poetry – art on black and

rivers and other blackness between us; writing, performing and publishing the critically acclaimed sankofa trilogy featuring her monodramas

blood.claat, benu and word! sound! powah!; founding and artistic directing YEMOYA pan afrikan healing arts; and developing a new

performance methodology called the biomyth sorplusi principles. a headliner at numerous festivals worldwide (including bushfire in swaziland,

manifesto canada and jamaica, badilisha in cape town, canwest cabaret in the historic distillery district, the calgary international folk and

spoken word festivals, vancouver folk festival, havana international reggae festival, and toronto’s international dubpoetry festival) young is also

the recipient of the canadian 2010 km hunter theatre award and the 2007 toronto mayor’s emerging artist award. d’bi.young studied theatre during the summers at the jamaica school of drama.