Gavin Barrett is a poet and the author of Understan, a collection of poems published by Mawenzi House (2020). Understan is a CBC Books recommendation.

He is the founder, host and series co-curator of the Tartan Turban Secret Readings, a Toronto reading series that focuses on giving IBPOC writers a stage. He is a member of the Canadian Authors Association and sits on its Toronto branch Advisory Board. and is also a member of the League of Canadian Poets, PEN Canada and The Writers’ Union of Canada.

Gavin is the co-founder of Barrett and Welsh, a visible-minority-led branding and advertising agency. A certified B Corporation® based in Toronto, the agency specializes in creating inclusion through communications.

His commercial writing has been published in 35 countries, helped elect prime ministers, drew the ire of the lawyers for Dolly the cloned sheep, attracted an angry crowd in Lagos, has been studied in business texts in Canada and India and was critiqued by a fictional character in a John Irving novel.