With her latest spoken word album, Andrea Thompson takes us on an unforgettable journey to the intersection of faith and Black history. Through the tracks of this album, Thompson shares her perception of the spiritual influences that inspired Black history’s key creative moments – from the haunting slave spirituals of the old south, to the juke joints of the Harlem Renaissance, and the coffee houses of the Black Arts movement. Black history is excavated and its heroes are celebrated – from Harriet Tubman to Martin Luther King, from Mahalia Jackson to Thompson’s own paternal ancestor – who escaped slavery via the underground railroad. With music by acclaimed composer and hip-hip producer, Evren Oz, The Good Word is Thompson’s most personal work to date. It is an unflinching testament to the generational influence of ancestry and faith – infused with bluesy rhythm, soulful jazz and gospel undertones. This album is spoken word soul food, with a powerful message of history, love, faith and the enduring spirit that is the backbone of what it means to be Black in North America.

In this collection of poems, Andrea Thompson investigates the intersection of page and stage, and the evolution of spoken word as a hybrid form of literary orature. Thompson’s collection blurs the space between public and private, while excavating the influence of Black North American history, art and culture on contemporary poetics. From the slave songs and spirituals of the cotton fields of the Old South, to the smoky coffee houses of the Harlem Renaissance, to today’s slam stages and rap battles, these poems elevate the written and spoken word as vehicles for individual empowerment, collective agency and social justice. Thompson asks us: Why speak? Why write? And then takes us on a journey spanning decades, generations and cultures in the exploration of possible answers. A Selected History of Soul Speak was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovation in Poetry, and was longlisted for both the Pat Lowther and Raymond Souster Awards.

Soulorations is a spoken word poetry album created in 2019 with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts. The poems focus on the importance of writing and speaking one's truth. The music was composed by Evren Oz, with special guests Courteney Brooks-Buxton and Angela Maccaroni. The cover art was painted by Ilene Sova. Buy tracks or the whole album on Bandcamp to support me directly, or you can also find the album on iTunes,Spotify, Apple Music, Napster, Amazon and most online music streaming services.

Published by Inanna pubications. Now available in paperback, audiobook and ebook through all online booksellers, Over Our Heads is a story about kindness, compassion – and the lack of it, on both a societal and individual level. It’s about growing up wounded, and the generational legacy of suffering those wounds can create. It unearths the painful family dynamics that can arise from our perception of memory, and how these dynamics colour both who we are and who we believe others to be. It’s a story of acceptance, forgiveness, redemption and the beauty that can be found in the imperfection inherent in being human.

Limited edition, hand-crafted poety chapbook with images by Indigenous artist, Catherine Tammaro. The books were created during the Poetry inPrint residency - an initiative of the Poetry inPrint Collective that paired poets with visual artists in order to create new work in response to on-going conversations of systemic oppression as experiences in the CanLit and visual arts communities. For more information on the initiative, check out https://poetryinprintcommunity.wordpress.com/

To purchase a copy of the chapbook, please click link below.

This anthology of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, spoken word texts, as well as black and white artwork and photography, explores the question of how mixed-race women in North America identify in the twenty-first century. Contributions engage, document, and/or explore the experiences of being mixed-race, by placing interraciality as the center, rather than periphery, of analysis. The anthology also serves as a place to learn about the social experiences, attitudes, and feelings of others, and what racial identity has come to mean today.

One is a spoken word poetry album produced with the assistance of The Canada Council for the Arts. The album features music composed and produced by Evren Oz, and is an eclectic collection of poems investigating topics from environmental conservation to discrimination and racism. One was a 2005 nominee for the Canadian Urban Music Awards.

Published in 1999 by Ekstasis Editions, this book is currently out of print. Cover text: Like a postmodern Persephone walking illuminated streets at night, Andrea Thompson simultaneously ascends and descends into the darkest regions of the human heart. Dynamic, articulate and funny, the poems in Eating the Seed erupt from the fire in the belly into an ecstatic lavaflow of language.