Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Antonia's Black Cherokee  is  a finalist for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, By Stephen Weir  The Trinidadian Canadian from New Grant is a rising but elusive Canadian star. Known as Antonio Michael Downing and John Orpheus, he moves between roles as performer and interviewer. On stage, often dressed in black, he performs with two backing vocalists as John Orpheus and The Funk Daddies (and sometimes Afro Beats), while on radio he appears as an interviewer on CBC Radio One’s   The Next Chapter , a Canadian literary program. He is also a budding author under the Antonio Michael Downing name. His novel   Black Cherokee   has recently placed him in the national spotlight, as he has been named a finalist for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, in the running for the $60,000 top prize. Making the shortlist is a significant achievement in Canadian literature. Amazon Canada and   The Walrus   magazine recently unveiled the nominees for the 49th annua...

Antonio Michael Downing’s story is a true tale for the Diaspora.   By Stephen Weir   If you have pigged out on  poulourie , studied from   Nelson’s West Indian Reader or had a  rumbo  yell at you walking home from school, then Antonio Michael Downing’s  Saga Boy, My Life Of Blackness And Becoming  will soon deeply speak to you.  This Saga Boy is a local  musician, writer, and activist and his wild ride autobiography is set to loudly drop early next month. Saga Boy is the real deal that takes readers from Trinidad’s Monkey Town to the wilds of Northern Ontario and finally to fame and fortune here in the Six. Don’t recognize the name? Maybe you know him as  Mic Dainjah, Molasses or have caught him on stage playing cutting edge music under the name John Orpheus. “ Throughout the years, I would give myself many names,” writes Downing in the new book. “They called me Tony in Trinidad, Michael in the gleaming boardrooms of corporate Canad...

Student, Author and Recording Star Antonio Michael Downing Receives a new Mentorship Award. By Stephen Weir for Caribbean Camera Photograph:  Antonio Michael Downing   Antonio Michael Downing grew up in southern Trinidad before moving to Canada He is a musician, writer and activist based in Toronto and he has just been chosen to be part of the new RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers Mentorship Program. This is a professional development program designed to support the next generation of Canadian writers on their career journeys. It is all part of the RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers Award, a distinction that is given annually to a Canadian author whose work embodies the pursuit of excellence in literary non-fiction. The Mentorship program is being made available to five Canadian non-fiction writers, who are selected in partnership with a national network of university and college writing programs. These students have been paired ...