April 22 - 29 2012

This is How The Festival Ends

Last night’s Poetry Party was a real blowout. The Reunited Raving Poets kicked out a memorable set with readers Michael Gravel, Kerry Mulholland, and Thomas Trofimuk. Guitarist Michel Lefavre sat in with the band and was incredible! Dionne Brand put us in the front seat of a bank robbery getaway vehicle and left us with visions of Bird, Coltrane, and Monk. Bob Holman sang, recited, and read his entire book entitled “Box” to the great delight of the audience. He took us into the fumes of Saturday night. It was one for the ages.

Today is the final day of the festival, and here are the events:

1. Breathe. 10:00am – 12:00noon, Harcourt House, 10215 – 112 Street. Time out. A poem. A silence. A bell. Another poem. This is an hour to catch our breath, listen, feel. Special guests will join us to bring a poem, but will be space for you to bring one too.
2. A Balanced Brunch. 1:30pm – 3:30pm. Ft Saskatchewan Library, 10011 – 102 Street, Ft Saskatchewan, AB. Celebrating the 14th Annual National Poetry Month, four talented Edmonton-area poets will share their perspective on this year’s theme of “balance” – culturally, creatively, linguistically, personally, socially, playfully, politically, poetically, or perhaps even musically! They include League members Diane Buchanan, Alexis Kienlen, Peter Midgely and Pierrette Requier, with emcee Dymphny Dronyk. A League of Canadian Poets event. Tea, coffee and muffins will be served.
3. The Cafe Readings. 1:30pm-4:30pm, Three Bananas Cafe, L’Espresso Cafe, and Audrey’s Books. You’ve got all the choice in the world at this traditional Sunday festival event. Download a copy of the reading schedule here.
4. Writers Corner. 1:30pm – 3:30pm, Milner Library, Churchill Square. The April installment of the Library’s regular Writers Corner will have a poetry flair. Edmonton Poet Laureate Anna Marie Sewell will lead the session and the topic is Poetic License.
5. Nothing For Now. 4:00pm-6:00pm, Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus, 8120 – 101 Street. Local poets gather at The New Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus every Sunday to talk poetry, learn different forms of writing and to workshop poems in progress. A poetry jam is held after the workshop and all poets are invited to come out and recite. The performing poets have the option of being videotaped and posted on the Nothing, For Now youtube channel for the world to see.

It has been a wonderful festival, hasn’t it! Enjoy the final day!

Be No Accomplice to Memory

If you’re on Facebook, you should be visiting our page and “liking” us. Visit us on Facebook. There you will find all kinds of cool stuff, including amazing photos of all the festival’s events courtesy of Edmonton photographer Randall Edwards. We’re the coolest looking bunch on the block.

In case you didn’t know, The Festival has a new Executive Director, Rayanne Doucet. She’ll be reading in the cafe series on Sunday, and guess what? It’ll be her first public poetry performance! Read her guest post on Reading Out Loud, and swing by to hear her read. I’ve heard her read a bit and despite her trepidation, she’s pretty damn good.

And now for today’s offerings:

1. Workshops with Bob Holman. 9:30am-4:30pm, Milner Library. Important note: Payment is required to participate in this workshop $25-$60. Wow, Mr Holman is one busy guy. He swings into town and we immediately put him to work. Hosting readings and screenings, facilitating workshops. The guy’s got it going on. Payment is required to participate in these workshops.
2. Free Range Poetry. Noon, Edmonton City Hall, Churchill Square. Edmonton’s current poet laureate Anna Marie Sewell puts together a clutch of Edmonton poets for market visitors to savour. When you’re picking up your lettuce or root vegetables, say hello to our fearless poets who will serenade you with their lovely words.
3. I Eat My Poems With Honey, A Celebration of Bees and Honey. 1:00pm – 2:30pm, L’Espresso Cafe, 3 Sir Winston Churchill Square. Bet you thought you’d never see a poetry reading combined with a honey tasting, am I right? Savour an afternoon filled with buzz, sting, and sweetness as local poets team up with the bees to bring you a unique combination of poetry reading and honey tasting. Dandelion, raspberry, and sunflower honeys are just a few of the samples provided. This is sure to be a unique event.
4. Poetry And Music for a Spring Afternoon. 3:00pm – 5:00pm, The Artery, 9535 – Jasper Avenue. Spring is that season when we cross to the sunny side of the ecliptic. It’s a season for changes – hot and cool, high flights and mud, departures and returns. Join us for an afternoon of mood swings and swinging music with poets John Steffler, Nora Gould, Shelley Leedahl, and local poet/songwriter Lyra Brown.
5. Words on the Line: The Poetry Party. 8:00pm, The Artery, 9535 Jasper Avenue. $10.00 admission, which can be exchanged for a year-long membership in the Edmonton Poetry Festival Society. This is the festival’s marquee event, featuring The Raving Poets Band and guests, Dionne Brand, and Mr Bob Holman. There’ll be a few other surprises thrown in there as well, so be prepared to have you windows shaken and your walls rattled. Remember, it’s $10 to get in.

A ton of cool stuff awaits you today! Now go away from your window, leave at your own chosen speed. Enjoy this spring day filled with verse and language and love.

Guest Post - Reading Out Loud

On Sunday April 29th, I Rayanne Doucet, will be reading my poetry, outside of the classroom and in public for the first time…ever. This all takes place as part of the Edmonton Poetry Festival’s café reading series, where Edmonton poets, regardless of their level of expertise, are invited to read their poems at venues in the downtown core. What this means is that at each café the audience will have the chance to hear someone like Edmonton’s first poet laureate, Alice Major, read at the same event as someone like me. Newcomer to the playing field.

Here’s the thing. I’m really excited. I want the opportunity to share my work. I’ve been writing poetry since I was very young and this is a wonderful way to take that next step. But, and it’s a big but. I’m nervous. Sure I’ve shared my poetry with friends and family. I’ve shared my writing and poetry in a classroom or workshop setting. And I share my writing all the time when I post to my blog or submit stories for news articles. But putting something out on my blog is very different than reading my poetry to a room of people. And equally nerve wracking… to a room with other poets, experienced poets, poets who are published many times over. No pressure right?

Here’s the other thing. I’ve performed in front of very large crowds. Shakespeare, monologues, black comedy, I’ve done it. I’m not afraid of it. But this? Speaking MY words in public? I hope my voice doesn’t crack.

I hope to engage people. I hope what I have created will resonate with them; for my words to strike a chord and mean something. This creative process has come to mean so much to me.

And Always

I want to be fearless and just do this. I want to walk this road with my words. All those poems I’ve written over the years? The ones I’ve hidden away because I simply wasn’t prepared to actually face public scrutiny for real? I think they deserve to be presented.

So if I’m going to be in the position I am in, and if I’m asking all of you to read, I think it’s time I did as well. I’ll see you on Sunday, reading.

Rayanne Doucet is the Executive Director of the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

Secret Thoughts Are Hard to Bear

Please, please don’t look out your window. Yes, it is almost May. Yes, it is snowing. Before you bring that first spoonful of Froot Loops to your hungry mug, and before you reach for the life-saving espresso, you gotta check out Alexis Kienlen’s guest review of On the Road With Bob Holman. It’s a great portrait of the event. And by all accounts, last night was a humdinger of a night for poetry.

There’s a great lineup today. Here are today’s festival events:

1. Echoes From the Grand Canyon. 12:00noon – 1:00pm, CBC Center Stage, City Center Mall. This event focuses on publishing poetry. “Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.” So wrote poet-humorist Don Marquis some eighty years ago. Has anything changed? Join Jonathan Hart, Jenna Butler, and Trisia Eddy, who bring you their new books and talk about what it’s like to publish.
2. Dionne Brand in Conversation. 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Student Lounge, Old Arts Building, U of A Campus. Note the revised event time – was 4:30, now 4:00. You don’t want to miss this one. Our headlining author will read from her work and chat with interviewer Libe Garcia Zarranz. Admission is free, and go prepared to have your mind altered.
3. Every Poem Tells a Story Don’t It? 7:00pm, Latitude 53, 10248 – 106 Street. This event focuses on narrative poetry. Poetry has told stories from “The Odyssey” to “Casey at the Bat.” So how are poets using narrative today? In many different ways, as our guest performers will illustrate. Their performances will be followed by a lively discussion moderated by host (and narrative poet) Alice Major.
4. Friday Night On A Roll. The inimitable, indefatigable, unstoppable, undefinable Jem Rolls puts words on the line on this late night performance that is sure to delight, wound, and move. Expect explosions and tectonic plate rearrangement. Seriously, if you’ve never seen him live, you owe it to everyone to check out his show.

All right, poets. Don’t let this idiotic snow set you back. Go forth and listen.

Guest Post - On The Road with Bob Holman

One of the best things about festivals is you can get introduced to a lot of new work, and new people in a very short period of time. On Thursday night, I got a chance to take in a screening of excerpts from Bob Holman’s documentary series, “On the road with Bob Holman.”

Bob Holman is a pretty fascinating guy. He’s a New York based poetry who founded the Bowery Poetry Club, and is connected with spoken word, slam and hip hop. He’s written 13 (good number) books, and released two cds.

His documentary series looks at endangered languages and what these languages means to culture. The audience, who braved Vancouver-like weather to come out to the Metro Cinema at the Garneau theatre, was treated to two documentary bits.

In the first one, Holman spent time with the Dogon people in Africa, learning about their divination, their dance and rituals and told through movement, a type of language itself.

In the second short documentary, Holman spent time in Israel, talking to various people about languages including Yiddish (an endangered language), Hebrew( which was dead and a lot like Latin until people decided to revive a few thousand years ago), and Arabic. Holman travelled around the city, and spent time with poets.

The documentaries could best be described as anthropological travelogues infused with Holman’s poetic sensitivities and observations. It was obvious he had a great deal of respect for the people he was meeting, their language and their creations.

When the lights went up, Holman, Cree poet Marilyn Dumont, filmmaker Tom Radford and the evening’s emcee, Jannie Edwards, assembled on the stage to talk about languages, their importance and their personal experiences. The audience was able to ask questions and interact with the panel.

What emerged through the documentary excerpts and the panel discussion was an exploration of language, and its ties to culture. Language is the tool of the poet, and the way a poet chooses to express himself/herself. The words or sounds a poet uses are both personal, political and shaped by culture and environment.

Alexis Kienlen is an Edmonton-based agriculture writer, poet, and friend of the festival.

Throw my fate to the clouds and wind

It was a dizzying evening, with events happening across the city! Over on the Twitter I heard nothing but great things about our poets and their readings. Braidings was moving, The Sweatshop was sweaty, Shout it Out was roarious, Take A Deep Breath was inspiring, and Brendan MacLeod was off the hook. But let’s not stop there! Poetry Week marches on!

For your listening and viewing pleasure, here are today’s events:

1. A Slam Sampler. 12:00noon-1:00pm, CBC Center Stage, City Center Mall. Tuesday’s Slam Finals determined the last few members of Edmonton’s (reigning Canadian Champions!) slam team, and this event in downtown Edmonton will serve as their introduction. Hear present and past team members rock up the CBC stage. You’ll see why all the kids are crazy for slam poetry.
2. Literary Cocktails. 4:00pm-6:00pm, The Faculty Club, 11435 Saskatchewan Drive. Join the University of Alberta Press as it launches three exceptional collections of poetry as the first books of the new Robert Kroetsch Series of creative works. Launching three collections simultaneously is pretty ambitious by any standard, but if anyone can pull it off, the U of A Press can. At this event, I am told that there will be a drinking game wherein a shot of mescal must be downed without hesitation each time Doug Barbour is mentioned. We’ll make sure the police are on hand to contain all you rowdy versifiers.
3. French Twist. 7:00pm, Studio 104, Cite Francophone, 8627 – 91 Street. So many great readers on tap for this event, plus a few musicians. This is a bilingual event, and if you’ve ever heard poetry in a different language, you know how beautiful it can be to concentrate on rhythm and inflection, rather than on literal meaning. There’ll be music with poetry, song, voice-only, and other permutations. This event is sure to be a roaring good time, and don’t forget to bring an hors d’oeuvre (a poem, not an actual dish of food) for the open mic.
4. On The Road with Bob Holman. 7:00pm, Garneau Theatre, 8712 – 109 Street. Join us at the Garneau Theatre for a special screening from On the Road with Bob Holman. This series on endangered languages investigates oral traditions and their relationship to hip-hop, slam, and spoken word. After the screening Bob will be joined by a panel of other artists to talk about making the documentary and the vanishing languages/traditions he has been exploring. There will be music by Allan Suarez. And hey, the bar is open at 6:30.

Be well in the world, and enjoy today’s offerings.

The Heavens Have Never Seemed So Near

Sounds like The Olive and The Slam Finals were awesome! I believe that the world is indeed a better place today because of those events.

We’ve got a mighty day on deck. A veritable cornucopic assortment of miscellany awaits you today! How will you choose? Well, you could go with the time-honoured method employed by such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway and Dylan Thomas: Spill a glass of wine on a map. Whichever area is free of the grape, go there and make your mark. Some neckbeard should get to work on making that tactic work with Google Maps. Anyway, here’s the skinny for today’s events:

1. Braidings with Anna Marie Sewell. 12:00noon-1:00pm, CBC Center Stage, City Center Mall. Braidings is a reader’s theatre/soundscaped performance for three voices, of the works of 6 Aboriginal poets. The words/works represent past, present and future, on the braided themes of Land, Love and Language. Brought to you by the hardest working poet in Edmonton, our Laureate Anna Marie Sewell.
2. The Poetry Sweatshop 6:30pm, The Artery, 9535 Jasper Avenue. Facilitated by yours truly, Michael Gravel. Please bring your own writing utensil. Reborn in a more inclusive, gentler form, this event focuses on lowering inhibitions and having a blast with words. Explore the “micro glosa”. Ask the questions you’ve always wanted answered. Shoot off a couple “machine gun poems”. In this poem-generating workshop, editing is a four-letter word. Have a drink or two, write some poetry, and have a grand time pushing your words into the air while cheering on your mates to do the same.
3. Take a Deep Breath 7:00pm, Audreys Books, 10702 Jasper Avenue. Four women share brand-new books that tackle survival and its compensations in very different poetic ways. If you’re looking for a mellower, more reflective vibe on humpday eve, this would be your ticket. Cuddle into Audrey’s lower-floor performance space and let the words of these four talented ladies comfort and inspire you. And when you’re done cuddling, go home and thank your family. They’re all any of us really have.
4. Shout it Out – Queer Spoken Word 7:30pm, Woodcroft Library, 13420 – 114 Avenue. And if you’re looking for a riotous event full of all the things you wish you could say, Shout It Out is for you. In past years this event has been a giant hit, and the lineup this year looks to continue that trend. I’m warning you, though. This isn’t all feather boas, bravado, and leather jackets. This is some serious verse by some formidable poets. Grab your spectra patch and represent.
5. Brendan MacLeod at the Artery 9:00pm, Artery, 9535 Jasper Avenue. After the sweatshop, stick around for Brendan MacLeod. Brendan is old friend of the festival. [begin old man voice] Why I remember back in ought-6 when Brendan came to town and shook the place to the ground. People still talk about it. I was just a your whippersnapper then, knee-high to a rabbit, but I tell ya my wife has yet to recover. You know what they say about Brendan, keep him away from the girls… [end old man voice]. Listen, you know Brendan will blow the stage apart. You know he’ll kick ass. Just come down and see the guy, OK?

Have fun at your events today, poets!

It's Hard to Keep Track of You, Falling Through the Sky

Kicking a government out of power requires a lot of energy. After you rub the same old sleep out of your eyes, grab an apple gallette and an espresso and have a seat. In Alberta we’ve got ourselves a new government! Er, uh, no. We don’t. Same old, same old. This, amazingly, is the result many were hoping for! Well done, Albertans.

Listen, if you’re fired up about verse, and with poetry week upon us you damn well better be, here’s what the festival has on tap for today:

1. Poetry Central. 11:30am – 1:30pm, Milner Library, Churchill Square. This is the festival’s “home base” during Poetry Week. If you work or live downtown and you’re looking to become famous by reading poetry in front of thousands of adoring fans, stop by to dish out a poem at the always open mic. Or talk to our genteel staff, who are not nearly as spiny and altogether disagreeable as yours truly. They will gladly supply you with festival information and a list of events.
2. The Olive. 7:00pm, Latitude 53, 10248 – 106 Street. This is the all-star Olive Reading. This is the Superbowl of Olive Readings. This the “Season Four of the X-Files” Olive Reading. This is the alternate universe Hindenburg of Olive readings wherein the indefatigable zeppelin makes a victorious landing to the roar of drunken Americans who thought they were watching a cross-stich competition. You’ll hear many voices, including those of Kath MacLean, Doug Barbour, Jenna Butler, and Mr Adam Wilson, who is kind of a big deal on Twitter. If you ask him for his autograph, he promises that he will squeal with delight and then refuse.
3. The Slam Finals. 8:00pm, The Artery, 9535 Jasper Avenue. 3-2-1-breathe. I tell ya, the cats down at The Breath in Poetry Collective know how to light up the stage and let ‘er rip. Seriously, if you haven’t been down to the Rouge Lounge for one of their slams or feature nights, you simply haven’t lived fully. The slam finals are always a blast of an event with super high energy and lots of amazing words. You’ll walk away inspired to do good in the world.

Our tweet team will be out in force! You should follow the hashtag #pofest12 for updates.