All the poets this year are award winners… either nationally or internationally, and have all appeared on the show before. We’re going bigger this year too, with the venue being changed to the 876 seat Bluma Appel theatre at St. Lawrence Centre; past shows were in the Jane Mallet Theatre, a smaller 497 seat theatre.

What motivates you to continue doing poetry?

The art of conversation is dying. Technology is killing it. So when I can go up on a stage and speak to people face to face, and they respond positively, it keeps me motivated. I think just being able to express yourself is a beautiful art in itself.

What technology do you use in your business?

My formal education is actually in mass communication, so finding new mediums to get my message across has always interested me. I currently use Social Media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo. I’ve been doing a lot of v-logs lately as well.

Do you find people respond more to your written or video blogs?

Surprisingly, people still read more than they watch videos. I feel as if sometimes people look at the length of the video first, and if it’s too long, they say, nah, not watching that. When you contrast the text blogs, people can usually see and skim through them quickly.

Besides the When Brothers Speak Show, what else do you have coming up?

I’m doing a birthday roast, October 13th at Lula Lounge (the sixth show there for the year), December 8th there’s our second “pop up shop” for the year at The Great Hall to promote local entrepreneurs to sell to the public. Then after that, it’s gearing up for When Sisters Speak in January 2014.

You have mentored many upcoming poets in Canada. Is there any poet alive that you consider a mentor?

Mutabaruka was the first poet I ever saw perform on stage, he has always been good to me and inspired me to become the performer I am today. He was actually the first “big” name poet that I opened for, so I’m always grateful for that opportunity.

You can catch up with Dwayne on ByBlacks.com by clicking here.