Featuring:

Optimus Rhyme and Lucile Barker

Optimus Rhyme

aka Richard Glen Lett

Hitting every microphone in the country doing stand-up (and three CDs in the vault), acting with Chris Rock and Jessica Alba, writing, directing and producing almost thirty of his own plays, being a single dad, battling cancer, alcoholism and drug addiction should be enough. Richard Lett, however, felt the need to rhyme and slam his way to the Vancouver Poetry Slam finals in 2008, and on to being Toronto’s 2013 Grand Slam Poet Champ and captain of the 2013 Toronto Poetry Slam Team as his alter-ego Optimus Rhyme. He knocked ‘em out in Boston at the National Poetry Slam in August, and won the Toronto’s 2013 Word On The Street Slam. In November he and his TPS team mates won the 2013 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word National Championship. His comedy can regularly be heard on Sirius XM radio, and his newest CD is entitled “Sober But Never Clean” . Not bad for a guy that’s down to one nut.

Lucile Barker

Lucile Barker is a Toronto poet, writer and activist who has written since swiping her grandmother’s fountain pen and her mother’s ink. Time spent in the corner gave her more writing time. More time spent in the hall during high school increased her opportunities to produce peacock blue pieces and decrease her prospects of gainful employment. She may have the world’s largest rejection slip collection. There are no plans for an exhibit of these.

Her many print publications include both poetry and fiction and have appeared in Origins, Mamashee, B.C. Review and Memewar. Other online publications include Connotations, Wordsmith, Menacing Hedge and Ginger Piglet. She is inclined to submit to magazines with the strangest names.

Since 1994, she has been the co-ordinator of the Joy of Writing, a weekly workshop at the Ralph Thornton Centre. While she attempts to do the assignments she gives to other participants, there are no guarantees of this.