Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae

Keynote Writer and Speaker

Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae is an Associate Professor Arts with expertise in race, gender and performance and an artist who works in theatre, literature and music. Her scholarship has been published in journals including Theatre Research in Canada; Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice; and Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal and books including bestseller Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (2020); and award-winning Performance Studies in Canada (2017). Her music albums are: Fire Woman (2020); Bloom (2009) and Free Dome: South Africa (2001); and her plays are What We Deserve (2020), No Knowledge College (2005); and Stuck (2001). Dr. Keleta-Mae has commentated for outlets including the BBC, CBC, BBN, CTV, The Canadian Press, The National Post and The Fader. One of her articles was one of the most read stories for a week across Vice Network’s Noisey websites in 15 countries (2016) and another one broke The Globe and Mail’s opinion section record for most shares (2015). Her research on blackness and freedom is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Waterloo. She is Subject Editor of Black Theatre and Performance for the Routledge Performance Archive and Co-Editor of Theatre Research In Canada/Recherches théâtrales au Canada.