Akin Jeje was born in the United States of Nigerian to Kenyan parents in the early 1970s. Raised in diverse locations around the world from Nigeria and the United States to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jeje now lives and works in Hong Kong. Educated in Canada, Jeje has been an active poet and spoken-word performer – in Canada since the early 1990s, and in Hong Kong since 2006 – Jeje's works have been published and featured in both Canada and Hong Kong, including publications such as Canada's Carousel and Filling Station and Hong Kong's Fifty-Fifty anthology. His poetry collection, Smoked Pearl: Poems of Hong Kong and Beyond was published on 23 November 2010. Jeje was most recently featured in the collective work A poem for Jack Layton, by 14 Canadian poets, published in the August 26, 2011 edition of Canada's Globe and Mail. [Read 1 2]