"Valerie Mason-John's poetry collection, I Am Still Your Negro, blends spoken word and hashtags with villanelles, sonnets, and haiku to traverse the African Diaspora experience through place, time, and circumstance. Blak Inglis street vernacular, the cadence of enslaved people in the Americas, patois and creole join the enduring spirit voice of Yaata, Supreme Being of the Kona people, to reveal narratives of liberation, entrapment, sexual assault, eating disorders, and rave culture. An emotive critique of colonization's bitter legacy, this collection will draw audiences of the spoken word genre and poetry readers who wish to broaden their knowledge about contemporary social justice issues."--

Poet, author, and public speaker Valerie Mason-John (a.k.a. "Queenie") highlights issues of the African Diaspora and the Black, female, Queer identity, and resists the currently existing overt and covert forms of colonialism through their fierce and brave writing. They are the author /editor of ten books. Their debut novel, Borrowed Body, won the 2006 Mind Book of the Year Award. They co-edited the award-winning anthology, The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry, and co-produced blackhalifax.com. Their most recent book is an edited collection: Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond. Valerie lives in Vancouver. Find them online at valeriemason-john.com.