dr d’bi.young is an internationally acclaimed visionary dub poet, playwright-performer, director-dramaturge, and activist-pedagogue, who creates, embodies, and teaches critical dub pedagogy. Their PhD research on Black womyn’s theatre from London South Bank University, centers the epistemological, ontological, cosmological, ethical, aesthetic, and somatic emancipation of the oppressed self through storytelling. dr anitafrika developed the Anitafrika Method—a nurturant Black-queer-feminist decolonial arts praxis—offering arts practitioners globally, an intersectional framework of knowing, doing, and being. A widely anthologised Siminovitch Playwright Prize finalist, three-time Dora award winner, and founding Artistic Director of Watah Theatre, Spolrusie Press, and Ubuntu Decolonial Arts Centre in Costa Rica, d’bi.young has authored twelve plays, seven albums, and four poetry collections. They currently serve as lead faculty in the training programs of Soulpepper and Obsidian theatre companies. The 2025 Lehan Arts & Activism Lecturer recently completed a term in UVic’s theatre department centering decolonial performance praxis. d’bi.young’s present initiatives include leading the Canada Council-funded national Black Womyn in Theatre Digital Archive project, establishing Watah Theatre’s new Black Theatre School which offers professional training in both performance and non-performance disciplines, and preparing for the 10th-anniversary staging and book launch of their multi-ward-winning classic—The Orisha Trilogy—at the Watah Studio Theatre.