Community Partner | The Harriet Tubman Institute

Jude Idada

rebsl — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 19:52:46 +0000

Jude Idada is a winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, an AMAA best screenplay award, an AMAA for Best Film by An African in the Diaspora, an AFRIFF Globe best screenplay award, and an ANA prize for Drama alongside several other awards.

Amongst others, Jude was selected as one of the writers for the University of Iowa International Writers Program, the TIFF ‘Adapt This” project, Afrinolly/Ford Foundation ‘Cinema4Change’ project, New Directions Filmmakers of the future project by MNET and the Relativity Media/AFRIFF Filmmaking project.

His films, The Tenant, Queen of the Night and Kofa have won various awards around the world. In addition to this, he has written feature films and television series for various multinational entertainment organizations, like StudioCanal, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.

He has written and published a collection of short stories “A Box of Chocolates”, an anthology of poetry “Exotica Celestica”, three stage plays “Oduduwa – King of the Edos,” “Sankara” and “L’Otor – The Devils Pilgrimage, the first book in a trilogy of novels “By My Own Hands”, a memoiresque novel “The Debate” and two children’s books “Didi Kanu and the Singing Dwarfs of the North” and “Boom Boom” along with ghostwriting several biographies.

He is a member of the Nigeria Oscar Selection Committee, and was the Chair of the Jury of the Coal City Film Festival, the Witsprouts Storytelling Prize and the head judge of the Quramo Writers Prize. In addition to this, he was also the Creative Director of the AfriCan Theatre Ensemble in Toronto Canada
His plays have been staged at British Council’s Lagos Theatre Festival, the Lagos Fringe Festival and other cities in Africa, North America, South America, and Europe.

He has written and directed for stage in Canada, US, Nigeria, Ghana, and Guyana.
He has lectured on several topics in higher institutions in North America, South America and Africa.
Jude has been inducted into the National Wall of Role Models at the Black Canadian Awards and founded the Sandra Whiteley Prize for Children’s Literature.

He actively writes observational, and analytical non-fiction and fictional stories across social media, which are aimed at enlightening, entertaining, educating and molding the general public.

He divides his time between Toronto, Canada and Lagos, Nigeria.

Omolola Afolabi

rebsl — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 15:17:50 +0000

Omolola Afolabi, an independent journalist residing in South-Western Nigeria, has written investigations in publications including The Nation Newspaper, The Cable, The International Centre for Investigative Reporting, HumAngle, and Sahara Reporters.

A grant recipient of the Pulitzer Centre and a fellow of the Centre for Journalism Innovation Development, the National Resource and Extractives Resource Fellowship, and the 2022 West Africa Climate Fellowship, she is also engaged in academic pursuits. Afolabi advocates for the rights of out-of-school children, persons with disabilities, and indigenous communities, in addition to addressing issues on climate and environmental protection.

She convened the inaugural Freedom in Nigeria Conference and the Africa No Filter dialogue on unbiased media, and has delivered training to journalists at Code for Africa and the Liberalist Centre Media Workshop. As a scholar at Harriet Tubman University, �첥��Ƶ, she aims to generate original narratives to stimulate significant discourse, policy formulation, and societal impact.

Keywords: Slavery, Heritage Sites, Preservation, Climate Change, Sand Mining, Collectuve Healing, Historical Site, Coastal Communities

Henry Gomez

rebsl — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 05:29:45 +0000

Henry Gomez is an educator, who was formerly employed by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) as a high school teacher; and was nominated for a Teacher- of-The-Year award. He specialized in English Literature, Media Studies and Drama. He holds an MFA in Theatre and a BA in English from �첥��Ƶ and obtained his B. Ed from the University of Toronto. He believes in lifelong learning. After retirement from active teaching, he returned to York, where he recently defended his master’s thesis in Interdisciplinary Studies.

He was born and grew up in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago, where he began his career in education. As an actor, composer, recording artiste and radio host, he has an extensive background in various aspects of the performing arts in Canada and internationally.

He has worked in radio, television, film and theatre; and has hosted shows on CFRB 1010 and CIUT 89.5 FM. He has also worked as a theatre director and Master of Ceremonies. Under his sobriquet, King Cosmos, he became a Canadian Calypso Monarch, the winner of a Canadian Urban Music Award and a Canadian Reggae Music Award. He is also a Sunshine Award nominee. His community service includes helping to develop the Caribbean cultural arts in Toronto. He is a founding member and first Chair/Secretary of the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA) and a past Chair of the Caribana Arts Group. For the period 2012 to 2014, he led the team that produced the Flags and Colours children’s carnival for residents of the Jane and Finch community in Toronto. Henry looks forward to working for the betterment of the Harriet Tubman Institute.

Keywords: carnival, calypso, music, culture, Caribbean, Toronto, Africa, Canada, Trinidad, Tobago, Trinbago