Seasonality and Afro-Canadian Diaspora

A Nigerian literary scholar, poet and former Fulbright scholar, Dr. Olajide Salawu is the recipient of the James Patrick Folinsbee Award, the FGSR Doctoral Award, the Andrew Mellon Fellowship, the Janet Panuska Award, the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship and the Andrew Stewart Memorial Prize, among others. Dr. Salawu’s work spans postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, African reading communities, internal African migration, seasonality and Black diaspora. His postdoctoral research at TMU explores seasonality and the Afro-Canadian diaspora. By examining and expanding the archive of Afro-Canadian poetry, Dr. Salawu hopes to interrogate how seasonal consequences shape Afro-Canadian lifeworlds.

As a poet, Dr. Salawu’s work has engaged the question of mob justice, identity, nationhood, home and diaspora. His artistic practice involves interviews, archive and autoethnography. He is the founding conversationalist at Brown Bamboo, where he hosts Black poets for readings and book chats. In addition, he works as a volunteer managing editor at OlongoAfrica and is a monthly contributor to Flaming Hydra. 

Dr. Salawu’s poetry book, Preface for Leaving Homeland, was published under the African Poetry Book Fund in 2019. He is also the co-editor of African Urban Echoes, published by Griots Lounge in January 2025. His new book, Contraband Bodies, is slated for release in October 2025 by NeWest Press. Dr. Salawu’s short essays have appeared in Public Parking, LitHub, Popula, The Republic and more. As a scholar, Dr. Salawu has published in leading journals in African cultural and literary studies, such as the Journal of African Cultural Studies, African Identities and Muziki. His debut full-length poetry collection, Contraband Bodies, is scheduled for publication by NeWest Press in October 2025.