Clifton Joseph is a Canadian dub poet.[1] He is most noted for his 1989 album Oral/Trans/Missions, from which the song "Chuckie Prophesy" was a shortlisted Juno Award finalist for Best Reggae Recording at the Juno Awards of 1990.[2]
A native of Antigua, Joseph moved to Canada with his family in the 1970s.[3] He published the poetry book Metropolitan Blues in 1983, but has been associated primarily with performance poetry.[3] Alongside Lillian Allen and Devon Haughton, he was one of the pioneers of dub poetry in Canada;[4] the three collaborated on the compilation album De Dub Poets in 1982.[5]
Joseph has also been a broadcaster and journalist, including stints as a correspondent for TVOntario's literary program Imprint,[6] as a reporter for CBC Television's news series Undercurrents, Marketplace and The National,[5] and as a writer for the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. He was a two-time winner of the Gemini Award for Best Writing in an Information Program or Series for his work on Undercurrents in 1998[7] and 1999.[8]
In 2017, he was nominated for the League of Canadian Poets' Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for spoken word poets.[9]