Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Speculative Discourse and Innerstandings

Cosmic Underground Northside operates as a seminal collection consisting of works from cross-generations and pan-national Black creatives and cultural producers from Canada. This generous book offers a glimpse of different innerstandings, a profound comprehension or conviction within one's spirit or soul. We consider the following: what does Afrofuturism look like from a Canadian perspective? What are the unique elements of artistic expression in Black Canadian art? Considering Canada's history on Indigenous land, how do Black Canadians imagine their future in a colony that promotes erasure, yet claims multiculturalism? So ah wah dis? Qu'est-ce que c'est? Kisa sa ye? Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Speculative Discourse and Innerstanding is an archival book comprised of diasporic dialogues around liberation and spirituality. Significant contributions of poems, lyrics, prose, short stories and other expressive forms of literature along with vibrant illustrations, photographs, posters, mixed-media digital and analog rendered artworks by over 100 talented, gifted Black Canadian scholars and creatives. This is who we are.

Author: Quentin Vercetty, Audrey Hudson
Publisher: Cedar Grove Publishing
Published: 02/16/2023
Pages: 284
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.68lbs
Size: 11.00h x 8.50w x 0.66d
ISBN: 9781941958971

About the Author
Quentin VerCetty (Lindsay) also known as Di' rAstroNautty, is an award-winning visual griot (storyteller) and art educator who knows no boundaries when it comes to his creative expression. His work builds off his Masters in Art Education thesis from Concordia University, exploring speculative narratives like Afrofuturism addressing issues of representation, immigration, decolonization and other social and environmental issues through public art. Quentin's work has been in numerous academic journals, magazines and a variety of publication including making contributions to the Cosmic Underground: A Grimoire of Black Speculative Discontent. Along being his artistry has showcased in countries on every continent from Haiti, Peru, Ghana, Australia, United Arab Empire and France to name a few. His passion for artivism, using art as a tool for social change, lead to launching the Canadian chapter of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAMCanada) in 2016 and has since then continued to spread it across the nation. Through his work he hopes to engage minds and inspire hearts to help to make the world a better place not only for today but for many tomorrows to come.

Audrey Hudson is an artist, educator, researcher and futurist. Audrey is on the leadership team at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), where she is the Richard & Elizabeth Currie Chief, Education & Programming and teaches Black Canadian Studies at University of Toronto. She holds a PhD from University of Toronto/Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UT/OISE). Most recently, Dr. Hudson co-edited a groundbreaking text entitled, In This Together: Blackness, Indigeneity and Hip-Hop, with a chapter, entitled, "All eyes on Hip Hop: Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurities". Other chapters and articles include: Where We @?: Blackness, Indigeneity and Hip-Hop's Expression of Creative Resistance (co-authored) (2015); Here We Are On Turtle Island: Navigating Places, Spaces and Terrain (2016); Integrating Black Lives into education: Black Lives Matter Freedom School (2019); and Learning From A Young Indigenous Artist: What Can Hip Hop Teach Us? (2020). This book, Cosmic Underground Northside, unites Audrey's passion for art, social change and voicing astounding Black creative intellect.

Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born Canadian writer and editor. Her debut novel Brown Girl in the Ring was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award and received the Locus Award for Best New Writer. She is also the author of Midnight Robber, Skin Folk While, The Salt Roads, The New Moon's Arms, and Sister Mine. She lives in Riverside, California.

Zainab Amadahy is an author of screenplays, nonfiction, and futurist fiction including the cult classic, Moons of Palmares. She also co-authored Indigenous and Black Peoples in Canada. In her role as Intergenerational Sharing Facilitator at Children's Peace theatre, Zainab connects Elders and seniors with Black and Indigenous youth who are exploring healing and decolonization through artistic processes. She lives in Toronto.