City arts prize for poet and social entrepreneur Dwayne Morgan
May 15, 2022
There was a time when the mainstream literary world did not accept the voices and stories of Dwayne Morgan and other first generation Canadians.
At open mic events to share poetry and writing, feedback suggested that what he was talking about was not real poetry because it rhymed and was filled with melody or it was performed and not read.
“I always felt unwelcomed because I wasn’t doing what was traditional,” Morgan said.
Undeterred by negativity, he allowed his creativity to soar and is now an award-winning poet and social entrepreneur.
Morgan was the recipient of the Celebration of Cultural Life $10,000 award presented on April 25 at the Toronto Arts Foundation annual Mayor’s Arts Lunch.
“When I began my career 29 years ago, I was just a Black kid in Scarborough trying to figure things out,” said the 2016 Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts finalist. “There were no priority neighbourhoods, no grants and I wasn’t welcomed by funding bodies or various events. I was told that what I did wasn’t really poetry, that there was no audience for the way that I wrote and the stories that I was telling. I learned quickly that sometimes the door that opportunity knocks on has to be built by yourself.”
In 1993, he launched his artistic career while enrolled at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute.
As president of the Scarborough high school’s Black Students Association, Morgan wrote poetry for performances at talent shows and during Black History Month. He also founded Up From the Roots Entertainment (UFRE) Inc. in 1994 to promote the positive artistic contributions of African-Canadian and urban influenced artists.
In the last 28 years, UFRE has produced hundreds of events, including ‘When Brothers Speak’, ‘When Sisters Speak’ and the Toronto International Poetry Slam created in 2003.
The recipient of Harry Jerome and African-Canadian Achievement Awards, Morgan has published 14 books and nine audio collections and toured 18 countries.
To further explore his creativity, he collaborated with Driftwood Studios to produce ‘Three Knocks’, a 10-minute film based on his domestic violence poem of the same name that premiered at the Reelworld Film Festival. He also produce and and host two TV shows, ‘Poetically Speaking’, and ‘Write in Toronto’.
“As a marginalized youth, I found myself pushed to the margins of the art world as well,” Morgan pointed out. “I charted out my own path and watched, as people would try to increase the size of the margins rather than welcome me to the main part of the stage. I wanted no one else who looked like me to feel the same rejection and marginalization that I felt, as I have spent my entire career creating opportunities for my peers and those who will come after me.
“Today, I graciously accept this award on behalf of all of those artists who never quit, despite others not seeing their light, to all those who have shared my stages, worked with me, pushed me, supported and validated me. While I stand on the shoulders of giants, there are giants standing on mine and I accept this for all of us.”
Former Brampton Councillor Garnett Manning presented the Young, Black & Gifted Trailblazer Award to Dwayne Morgan in 2015 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Unable find a book publisher, the 2018 Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award winner for Career Achievement in Spoken Word, self-published his first poetry book and sold copies out of his car trunk.
“Tropicana Community Services lent me the money to publish my first book,” Morgan, who was inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame in 2013, recalled. “Those kinds of experiences created the spark in me where I didn’t want to ask anybody for anything anymore. I wanted to figure out how I could do it and create a path for others who looked like me and would have to deal with the same issues.
“When people wanted to listen to my poetry, I convinced my supporters to pay $10 in advance with the promise that I would produce an album and that was long before crowd funding came into existence. As I got the opportunity to travel the country, people would come up to me and say, ‘I like your poetry, but I don’t have any money on me’. So I became one of the first artists to travel with a debit machine.”
Dwayne Morgan and A Differnt Booklist co-owner Itah Sadu (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Busy during the COVID pandemic making virtual presentations to schools in the Greater Toronto Area, he plans to use some of his winnings for rest and relaxation.
“I don’t know what that rest is going to look like because I am not used to it,” said Morgan who has performed for United States President Barack Obama, Canada’s first Black Head of State Michaelle Jean and late New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton and recorded with several Canadian artists, including Drake. “It might mean a trip to Jamaica or something else. I just need some time to reassess everything that I do.”
The two-time Canadian National Poetry Slam champion also performed at the 2012 Superbowl in Indianapolis and, in 2019, founded and co-produced the Toronto Spoken Soul Festival.
