Dancehall singer/songwriter Tanya Stephens will be delivering an interesting lecture today at UWI Mona.

Stephens will give a public lecture in the Assembly Hall on the topic, ‘Music, the Power to Shape Societies’, hosted by the Department of Literatures in English.

The veteran dancehall lyricist is one of the songwriters whose lyrics are studied in the department’s innovative course, ‘Reggae Poetry’. The other prescribed poets this year are Burning Spear, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Steel Pulse and Buju Banton.

Stephens’ lecture marks the revival of the brilliant public forums on ‘Women in Reggae’ that used to be hosted by the Reggae Studies Unit at UWI to mark International Women’s Month. The first forum, held almost a decade ago in March 2002, was organised by Ibo Cooper, who was then a research fellow in the unit.

Stephens’ lecture promises to be an eloquent celebration of the creativity of Jamaican women.