Andrea Thompson is a Canadian writer, performer and multimedia artist who has been publishing and presenting her work for over thirty years.
Thompson is the recipient of the 2021 Leon E. & Ann M. Pavlick Poetry Prize and her work was featured in the anthology, Best Canadian Poetry: 2020. In 2021, her collection, A Selected History of Soul Speak (Frontenac House, Quartet) was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, and longlisted for both the Pat Lowther and Raymond Souster awards.
In 2005 Thompson’s spoken word album, One, was nominated for a Canadian Urban Music Award. In 2009 she was the recipient of the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word's Poet of Honour Award and in 2019 her album, Soulorations, earned her a Sheri-D Wilson / League of Canadian Poets’ Spoken Word Award.
A graduate of the University of Guelph’s MFA Creative Writing program, Thompson has taught undergraduate creative writing courses since 2017. She is the author of numerous critical essays on spoken word orature, is the author of the novel, Over Our Heads and is the co-editor of the anthology Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out.
Driven by the transformative power of spoken word to foster self-knowledge, confidence and emotional well-being, Thompson has facilitated workshops with vulnerable and disenfranchised populations since the early 90s – encouraging the use of writing and orature as vehicle for catharsis, healing and recovery. Andrea has worked with participants of all ages, through organizations such as the Sunnybrook Veteran’s Centre, the Hospital For Sick Children’s Eating Disorder and Substance Abuse day program, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
In 2007, Thompson was host and researcher for Season 2 of the Bravo TV series, Heart of a Poet and in 2021 she was featured in the YES TV documentary series, Path to Creation. Thompson has served as both print editor for Brick Books and as Artistic Director of their online spoken word showcase, Brickyard. Her poems have been translated into French and Frisian, and made into short films screened at the National Film Board, the Iced in Black Festiva and the Workman Arts Rendezvous with Madness International Film Festival.
Thompson’s most recent work is The Good Word, a spoken word album that reflects on the intersection of Black history and faith, and Complex, a multimedia poetry collection exploring mental health. She was the Spring 2026 Writer in Residence at the Toronto Reference Library and she currently teaches Creative Writing and Spoken Word through the University of Toronto’s Department of English & Drama in Mississauga.
