吃瓜爆料

吃瓜爆料 student named Mississauga's poet laureate

wali shah
Wali Shah is a fourth-year undergraduate student at 吃瓜爆料 Mississauga (photo by Mahmoud Sarouji/The Medium)

吃瓜爆料 Mississauga's Wali Shah is now the city of Mississauga's new poet laureate.

The 22-year-old spoken word artist and TEDx speaker, who is completing a major in sociology and double minor in political science and history, has performed with the likes of Selena Gomez and Kendrick Lamar. Now, he'll be the city鈥檚 second-ever poet laureate. 

鈥淢ississauga is a very youth-oriented city,鈥 Shah told Metro. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just for me being on the big stage, but for other kids to know they too can dream big and work hard. Anything is possible.鈥

As poet laureate, Shah will help raise the profile of the city鈥檚 writers. He has partnered with Crime Stoppers, Bell Let鈥檚 Talk and has helped raise over $1 million for the United Way. He was named a Top 20 Under 20 by Youth in Motion in 2014. As part of his new duties, he'll be performing during Mississauga's Canada Day celebrations at Square One.

鈥淲ali鈥檚 selection as poet laureate makes a statement about the arts in Mississauga,鈥 said Paul Damaso, director of culture division at the city of Mississauga. 鈥淟ike Wali, our arts scene is young, cool, and emerging with unlimited potential. Wali is the perfect poet laureate for our city and he鈥檒l do a fantastic job with championing and raising the profile of literary arts and spoken word across Mississauga and beyond.鈥

Read more about Shah

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