mother tongue media | tawhida tanya evanson

Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, novelist, interdisciplinary artist and Ashiq whose work blends orality, music and image within currents of African diaspora, Sufi mysticism, and decolonial praxis. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal she has roots in Antigua, West Indies.

Evanson’s debut novel Book of Wings (Véhicule 2021) was one of Quill & Quire’s 2021 Books of the Year, on the 2022 CBC Canada Reads Longlist, and won the 2022 CAM/Blue Metropolis New Contribution Literary Prize. Its French companion is Livre des ailes (Marchand de feuilles 2023) and joins her poetry collections Nouveau Griot (Frontenac 2018) and Bothism (Ekstasis 2017). Her work has been featured in numerous anthologies and literary journals, most recently Sufism in Canada (University of Toronto 2025), Resistant Practices in Communities of Sound (McGill-Queen's University 2024), The Dervishes of the North (University of Toronto 2023), Capilano Review and Fiddlehead. She has also edited editions for the League of Canadian Poets, ARC Poetry Magazine and Write Bloody North.

Considered an influential figure in the spoken word and poetry communities in Canada and beyond, she has an extensive history of international performance, audio recordings, films and event productions stretching back to 1997. Over two hundred feature performances in thirteen countries include the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Scotland, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Indonesia and Aké Arts and Book Festival in Lagos, Nigeria.

Her audio recordings include the CYANO SUN SUITE soundtrack (2025), ZENSHIP (2016), Language for Gods (2012), the memorists (2008) and Invisible World (2004). She has produced five short films, and her Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE (2024) has garnered over fifty awards with screenings across continents.

Evanson was named 2013 Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and received the 2013 Golden Beret Award for her contribution to the genre. She was director of   Banff Centre Spoken Word from 2012-19; President of the Quebec Writers' Federation from 2023-25; and 2025 Poet Ambassador in Residence at the League of Canadian Poets. She is also a vocalist in the avant-jazz nonet FYEAR. 

As Mother Tongue Media, Evanson has produced  interarts events since 1996. Highlights include ANU ensemble performances in Coast Salish/Vancouver and Mînî hrpa/Banff, Canada (2010-2015); the monthly  Sema Space Espace Sema Sufi whirling sessions (est. 2014) and the annual Sheb-i Arus Sufi Whirling ceremony (est. 2018), both in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal.

She moonlights as a whirling dervish.