Antonio Michael Downing
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Expertise in
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Employee Management
- Resilience & Adversity
Speaker Types
- Annual General Meetings
- Audience Industry
- Awareness Days
- Campus & University Speakers
- Canadian Conferences & Summits
- Community Engagement Events
- Corporations & Businesses
ANTONIO MICHAEL DOWNING BIOGRAPHY
Antonio Michael Downing grew up in southern Trinidad; Northern Ontario, Brooklyn, New York, and Kitchener, Ontario. He is a musician, writer, and activist based in Toronto. His novel, Molasses, was published to critical acclaim. In 2017, he was named by the RBC Taylor Prize as one of Canada’s top Emerging Writers of non-fiction. He performs and composes music as John Orpheus.
His Life of Blackness and Becoming Raised by his indomitable grandmother in the lush rainforest of southern Trinidad, Downing, at age eleven, is uprooted to Canada when she dies. But to a very unusual part of Canada.
Antonio Michael Downing and his older brother are sent to live with his stern, evangelical Aunt Joan, in Wabigoon, a tiny northern Ontario community where they are the only black children in the town. In this wilderness, he begins his journey as an immigrant minority, using music and performance to dramatically transform himself. At the heart of his odyssey is the longing for a home.
He tries to flee his messy life by transforming into a series of extravagant musical personalities, yet like his father and grandfather, he has become a “Saga Boy,” a Trinidadian playboy, addicted to escapism, attention, and sex. When the inevitable crash happens, he finds himself in a cold stone jail cell. Antonio Michael Downing has become everything he was trying to escape and must finally face himself.
Richly evocative, Saga Boy is a heart-wrenching but uplifting story of a lonely immigrant boy who overcomes adversity and abandonment to reclaim his black identity and embrace a rich heritage.
Search For Identity
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Saga Boy
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Anti Opression
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Narrating Identity And Dis-belonging
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Looking Inwards
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Antonio Michael Downing electrified our audience of entrepreneurs, corporate stakeholders, and Members of Federal and Provincial Legislatures, as well as federal, regional, and municipal representatives who attended the epochal unveiling of the LiftOff Black Entrepreneurship program to the public for the first time. Given the theme, context, and historic milestone of the occasion, his words, presence, and candour were compelling and perfect highlights of the evening. Relevant, eloquent and engaging; his presentation was the cynosure of all of us at the event. He is an inspirational and evocative speaker; one whom I highly recommend, unreservedly
Uche Onuora
Venture Coach
Lift Off Program
The entire WRDSB has a such deep appreciation for you. The students are made better in each moment shared with you.
Teneile Warren
Equity and Inclusion Officer
Waterloo Regional District School Board
Your keynote to our budding entrepreneurs today was truly awesome!
Folake Owodunni
Program Manager
LiftOff Venture Program
Rose Mastnak
Director, Conestoga Entrepreneurship Collective
Conestoga College ITAL
Singularly dazzling, Saga Boy is a brilliant collage of the twenty-first century’s most incredible memoirs. Told with an unforgettable and innovative pace, this a book I will reread forever.
Kiese Laymon
Author of Heavy
Antonio Michael Downing’s Saga Boy is a vibrant, evocative, and searing account of the lives of Black immigrants. Downing helps us understand the rage and resilience of Black boys—motherless, fatherless, itinerant—and the communities that intervene to raise them. The triumph of Saga Boy is the triumph of Blackness everywhere—the irrepressible instinct for survival in a world where Blacks are prey.
Ian Williams, Giller Prize
Winning Author of Reproduction
IN THE MEDIA
PODCASTS
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MEDIA INTERVIEWS
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Antonio Michael Downing CAN DELIVER CUSTOMIZED PRESENTATIONS WITHIN THE FOLLOWING AREAS OF EXPERTISE & TOPIC THEMES
Expertise in
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Employee Management
- Resilience & Adversity
Speaker Types
- Annual General Meetings
- Audience Industry
- Awareness Days
- Campus & University Speakers
- Canadian Conferences & Summits
- Community Engagement Events
- Corporations & Businesses
- Event Format
- Gender Equality
- Inspirational
- Interactive & Experience
- Key Note
- Men
- Motivation
- Politicians
- Racial Justice
- Social & Cultural
- Social Justice & Human Rights
- Sort by
- Speaker Types
- Storytelling
- Town Halls & Retreats
- Trade Shows & Conventions
FAQs ON BOOKING Antonio Michael Downing
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Interested in Booking Antonio Michael Downing for an event?
Are you looking to hire Antonio Michael Downing for your event? Antonio Michael Downing Toronto, Ontario is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Antonio Michael Downing is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Antonio Michael Downing is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Antonio Michael Downing from Speakers Canada’s roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Antonio Michael Downing to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.
Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Antonio Michael Downing creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with a one our leading expert speaker like Antonio Michael Downing from Toronto, Ontario offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Antonio Michael Downing is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Antonio Michael Downing focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Antonio Michael Downing will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Antonio Michael Downing’s presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Antonio Michael Downing speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BOOK Antonio Michael Downing FOR A VIRTUAL OR KEYNOTE PRESENTATION?
Antonio Michael Downing is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada’s talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Antonio Michael Downing speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget.
Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Antonio Michael Downing to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Antonio Michael Downing for your event. As Antonio Michael Downing's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization’s behalf to try to help you get in touch with Antonio Michael Downing and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.
DISCLAIMER:
Speakers Bureau Canada assists companies and event planning teams seeking to hire talent like Antonio Michael Downing for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, conference appearances, training sessions and workshops facilitations. Our Canadian speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Antonio Michael Downing, however they are represented by Speakers Canada, and we work with them closely for their Canadian speaking opportunities and bookings. As Canada’s top speaker bureau, we represent Canadian motivational keynote speakers and professional guest speakers that will be available on your upcoming events date and location that are withing the budget. Our talented bureau speaker booking agency can help find business speakers or celebrity speakers that aligns with each organization, audience, event theme and the topic themes you hope for the speaker to address in their presentation.
When SBC receives a request to book Antonio Michael Downing we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization’s event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Antonio Michael Downing about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker’s fees. If you are looking to hire Antonio Michael Downing, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.
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