Echoes & Roots Poetry Showcase

Timiro Mohamed is a multidisciplinary artist and anti-racism educator inspired by the generations of storytellers before her.  She is a visual artist, spoken word poet, and published author. Timiro is Edmonton’s former youth poet laureate, recipient of the ACGC Top 30 under 30 award and Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award, has performed across North America, and competed at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. As a curator she dreams of Black art spaces that honor our stories and breathe life into new worlds. She’s passionate about the uses of art in community development, anti-racist education, and political advocacy, and looks to an Afro-futurist Black feminist praxis to inform her creative process and approach to systems change.

A Siren Goddess with the swagger of a KING, Charlee Queen XO is a poet, songstress, performing artist, and spiritual mentor. A graduate of the University of Toronto and an Edmonton Arts Council grant recipient, Charlee is a history-making artist at the Yardbird Suite, recognized as the first rapper-poet-singer to headline the venue. Her work spans performance, choreography, costume design, and community-centered artistic leadership, rooted in themes of embodiment, divine femininity, and liberation. Founding member of the Black Femme Poetry Collective, Charlee uses storytelling, inner reflections and  ancestral philosophy to heal herself and her community. With all of her poetry & music reflecting the sacred message of the divine feminine: To thy own self be true… Find her on spotify, apple music or anywhere you like to stream!

Latifat Busari (they/she) is a storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist originally from the Yorùbá people of Southwest Nigeria and currently residing in Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton, Alberta). Their art is guttural and raw, reflecting their life experiences and the history of their people.

They have had their work published in multiple publications across so-called Canada, and have performed in many spoken-word events across the city. More recently, they are a part of the Black Femme Poetry Collective as poet and co-costume designer and co-created the Grief Collective.

In their work, Latifat explores Afrofuturism through a queer, Indigenous Yorùbá lens, blending faith and culture, and building a world where variance – in its many intersections – is allowed to exist without apology.

Kijo Eunice Gatama is a multidisciplinary artist based in Edmonton, Alberta, working across playwriting, acting, dance, and artistic direction. A graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting program (2022), they specialize in performance theatre, Afrocentric dramaturgy, and esoteric studies, grounded in interdisciplinary and community-forward practice. Recent credits include Dance Nation (Skirtsafire 2025), Hyena’s Trail (Here for Fear Collective, 2025), and upcoming productions with Skirtsafire, Shadow Theatre, and Jabulani. Their playwriting explores folklore and Queer Afro-Canadian experiences. An excerpt of Hyena’s Trail appears in Alberta’s Black Creators Anthology (2027), next year published.

Kija Lado is South Sudanese multidisciplinary artist, poet and musician born and raised in Amiskwaciwâskahikan. Blending honest storytelling and soulful vocals, her genre-bending work aims to make both herself and others feel, know, and be known.

Yusi is a multidisciplinary creative community builder who uses art as a way to connect and heal with others. Her passion has driven her to explore the meaning behind humanity and what that looks like.

This introverted somali woman has spice and isn’t afraid to use it. As a hip hoppa, she’s learning how to build a practice that brings knowledge of *celf (self-healing cell) into HEALTHY movements, a LOVING heartfulness, a trusting AWARENESS and WEALTH within herself and those around her.