Penn Kemp

Performance Poet, activist and playwright Penn Kemp (M.Ed.) is London Ontario’s first Poet Laureate. She received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for service to arts and culture in London. Her latest publication is Local Heroes (Insomniac Press) and a play, The Triumph of Teresa Harris. Other recent works are Barbaric Cultural Practice (Quattro, 2016); Dream Sequins (Lyrical Myrical Press); and Jack Layton Art in Action, edited for Quattro Books, Toronto. As Writer-in-Residence for Western University, her project was the DVD, Luminous Entrance: a Sound Opera for Climate Change Action. The League of Canadian Poets acclaimed her as Spoken Word Artist, 2015, an award for lifetime achievement. (http://poets.ca/2015/04/01/golden-beret-2015-penn-kemp/). She is their 40th Life Member.

Photo credit: Mary McDonald