Vershawn Young Joins CFE Advisory Board

The Centre for Free Expression is pleased to announce that author, actor, and academic Vershawn Ashanti Young is joining the Centre’s Advisory Board.

Young is Professor in the Departments of English Language and Literature and of Communications Arts at the University of Waterloo where he teaches communication, race, gender, literature, writing, and performance. He is also a solo performance artist and writer.

“Vershawn [who goes by dr. vay] will be a valuable addition to our Advisory Board and to the work of the Centre,” said the Centre’s Director James L. Turk.   

Young is the author, co-author, or editor of ten books, including This Ain't Yesterday's Literacy: Culture and Education After George Floyd;  Other People's English: Code-Meshing, Code-Switching, and African American Literacy; The Routledge Reader of African American Rhetoric; Neo-Passing: Performing Identity After Jim Crow; and Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity.

dr. vay regularly tours his one man show titled, "Your Average Nigga" after his autobiographical study of Black identity; works as a diversity consultant to schools and other organizations; and chairs the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the largest educational organization dedicated to college literacies of communication and writing.