Biography
Greg Frankson, OCT, B.Ed, also known as Ritallin,. is a Toronto-based poet, author, educator and community activist. As Founder & CEO of Voice Share, he helps clients become Inspired Communicators™ through customized coaching, mentorship and training programs and delivers creative services at public events as a performance artist, emcee, poet-in-residence, and professional speaker.
Greg has been facilitating and speaking at mental health, diversity and anti-discrimination events across Canada since the late 1990s. He has participated in gatherings in North America and internationally penning poetic reflections on the current state of global mental health systems. He served as the Poet Laureate of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership and has worked on projects with Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Services, Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health (USA), among others.
He appeared on CBC TV’s Canada’s Smartest Person in 2012 and is the former resident poet on the CBC Radio One program Here and Now Toronto. Greg has published four poetry collections and his work appears in three poetry anthologies and numerous literary journals. He has also released four studio recordings and collaborated musically with several notable emcees, DJs and vocalists. In 2010, Greg was profiled by Who’s Who In Black Canada. In 2012, he won a national poetry slam championship. He was inducted to the VERSe Ottawa Hall of Honour in 2013 for his contributions to the literary arts in the capital. In 2014, Greg was nominated for a Black Canadian Award for Best Spoken Word.
In addition to his artistic achievements, Greg was the first African Canadian to serve as President of Canada’s oldest undergraduate student government at Queen’s University in 1996-97 and was a vocal advocate for the on-campus recognition of Robert Sutherland, Canada’s first Black university graduate and the first Black lawyer in British North America. In October 2009, Queen’s officially rededicated its Policy Studies Building as Robert Sutherland Hall.
A 1999 graduate of the Queen’s Concurrent Education program, Greg is an elected member of the Queen’s University Council and the editor of the upcoming AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets, to be published by Renaissance Press in February 2022.