Mahlikah is Kiswahili for Angel and Awe:ri is Mohawk for Heart. Mahlikah Awe:ri is an oralist, practicing cultural artist, arts educator, and digital storyteller of African/Mohawk/Mik’maw heritage, a 9th generation Afro-Native Canadian with Nova Scotian roots. Mahlikah Awe:ri made her debut as a Spoken-Word Artist as a member of the Ottawa-Toronto based group The Young Poets of the Revolution. She would later become a fixture at the annual Phemphat Honey Jam Showcases and travel as a solo spoken-word artist internationally. Mahlikah Awe:ri provides Cultural Arts programming in partnership with the Royal Conservatory's Living Through The Arts and Youth Engagement Programs for social service agencies and schools across Ontario. In the fall of 2008 Mahlikah joined forces with a diverse collective of Indigenous writers, musicians, and performers, Red Slam Collective. Red Slam is gearing up for the release of their first single, "Bring It Back" and the launch of their DissemiNation Tour funded in part by the OAC Word of Mouth Tour Grant. Currently she is creating a spoken word recording project with fellow Red Slam member Isaac Riverwalker, and with the support of Diaspora Dialogues Publishing and the Ontario Arts Council's Writers Reserve Granting Program is working on her first manuscript of poems, entitled, “Turtle Truth Rooted”. She was recently named to the 2010-2011 OAC Roster of Aboriginal Artists in the Schools and selected as an emerging writer for the 2010 Diaspora Dialogues Publishing Mentorship Program.
Mahlikah Awe:ri is a committee member for the Toronto Arts Council Community Arts Programs.

Toronto is a hub for new and innovative artistic initiatives many of which are being lead by emerging artists who are connected to the urban arts scene. Art and community in my culture are interrelated and support each others personal growth and development.