Linton Kwesi Johnson (LKJ), distinguished poet, performer, political activist and public intellectual, will give an illustrated lecture on 'African Consciousness in Reggae Music' on Sunday, January 3, at 6 p.m. at Villa Ronai, Old Stony Hill Road.

Born in Jamaica, LKJ migrated to the United Kingdom when he was 11 years old. As a teenager, he joined the British Black Panther Movement, which decidedly shaped his political consciousness. He found his voice as a poet and performed with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers. In a 2008 interview, LKJ emphatically declared that "writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon".

Linton Kwesi Johnson's poems were first published in the journal Race Today, which also released his first collection of poetry, Voices of the Living and the Dead.