Greg
Frankson
Greg Frankson is an educator, subject matter expert, activist, speaker, and award-winning literary artist and essayist. Prior to the pandemic, his practice centred on spoken word poetry written to illuminate issues related to social justice. Since then, Greg’s literary work has shifted to focus more explicitly on the importance of story as a tool of social change. His poetry and creative nonfiction explore how we can bring together stories across the sociocultural spectrum to come to a more inclusive, forward-looking, and empathetic definition of Canada.
Editor of the critically acclaimed AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets (Renaissance Press, 2022) and author of four poetry collections, Greg has contributed to six literary anthologies and appeared in literary publications on three continents. Greg was a 2012 national poetry slam champion, a 2013 VERSe Ottawa Hall of Honour inductee, a past poet laureate of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership, and a poetic commentator on CBC Radio One’s Here and Now Toronto. He was also an Arne Berngt Johansson Fellow at the 2022 Banff Forum. Dundurn Press will publish Greg’s first full-length work of creative nonfiction, Alphabet Soup, in January 2025.