Black History voices
February 04th, 2026
Black History Month will be marked in Victoria with a free, community-centred evening featuring award-winning poet Junie Désil, hosted by writer and cultural organizer Wayde Compton, with live music by Caleb Hart.
Taking place Friday, February 27, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the wheelchair-accessible Baumann Centre, the event brings literature, dialogue, and performance together in celebration of Black creativity and history.
Junie Désil, whose work explores language, memory and embodiment, will read from her poetry and speak about her writing journey. Her debut collection eat salt | gaze at the ocean (Talon Books, 2020) was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and her second book, allostatic load (Talon Books, 2025), continues her incisive engagement with lived experience and poetic form. Désil’s work has appeared in Room Magazine, PRISM International, The Capilano Review and CV2 and she is currently completing an MFA at the University of Victoria.
Hosting the evening is Wayde Compton, a key figure in Black Canadian literature and community-building. Compton is the co-founder of the Hogan’s Alley Society and Commodore Books, Western Canada’s first Black Canadian literary press and the author of six books across poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
The night will also feature acoustic performances by Caleb Hart, whose genre-blending sound draws from gospel, soul, reggae and calypso. Hart’s recent album Emancipation reached #1 in January 2025 and he received the 2024 American Songwriter World Song of the Year award.
The program includes a conversation, reading, audience Q&A and book signing.
Admission is free, but please register to get your tickets!
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