2025 Festival  Events Schedule

VERS/E is a monthly queer poetry open mic that takes place the first Wednesday of every month from September to April. Whether you’re a seasoned poet or just starting out, this event is the perfect space to share your work in a supportive and inclusive environment. Bring your poems, stories, or spoken word pieces to share with a welcoming audience. Let your voice be heard and connect with other members of the queer community through the power of poetry!

Each month this event feature a new poet and produces a limited-edition risograph art print of their work. This event will feature the poetry of sakâw laboucan.

Doors are at 6:00pm, and the poetry is at 6:30pm.

You can follow VERS/E on Instagram @vers_e_poetry for more information and upcoming events in the Queer Poetry Series.

Registration: Limited. Click the “Tickets” button to reserve your spot.

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

Felice Cafe

10930 84 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5H 1M7 Canada

Join in on an evening of candlelit comedy and light humour to celebrate the joy and friendship that the Stony Plain Public Library has brought to the community for 80 years – and the launch of Parkland Poets’ Society newest anthology, Outlying Voices!

The Comedy Poetry Café will be a casual open mic format focusing on humorous, clever, witty wordplay and poetry. ANY poetry is welcome – found or fresh, modern or classical – as long as it is light-hearted. This event is free and for all ages.

Non-readers are welcome and encouraged to attend to enjoy some laughs as well. 

There will be free coffee, and coffeehouse-type-goodies available for attendees!

Reader Sign-Up: If you would like to read at this event, click on the “Tickets” button to secure your spot!

Registration: There is no registration for general attendance.

===

Event Series: Publishing, Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

Stony Plain Public Library

5216 50 St
Stony Plain, Alberta T7Z 0N5 Canada

Come listen to members of the Stroll of Poets perform pieces from their most recent chapbook project, honoring the chorus of non-human voices around us. 

Venue Note: This event will take place at the Night of Artists Gallery and Gifts in the Bonnie Doon Centre.

Registration: No registration needed! 

===

Event Series: Publishing

Venue

Bonnie Doon Centre

8330 82 Ave NW
Edmonton, Alberta T6C 4N6 Canada

Rapid Fire Theatre’s ensemble members will enthrall as comedic improv warriors Ahmed “Knowmadic” Ali and Megan Dart take each other on in TEAM COMBAT. Like Theatresports – but with poetics for fuel, rhymes for skin, and a burning desire to win – you are invited to judge the teams’ output…and your judgement must be stern, harsh, and austere.

The program will culminate with the presentation of laurels. 

BONFIRE is Rapid Fire Theatre’s annual festival where our talented ensemble debuts a ton of fresh, exciting, and innovative shows — like POETRYSPORTS. Be part of the excitement and experience the next big thing in live performance!

Admission & Registration: Pay-what-you-will. Stay tuned for a link to purchase your tickets and register through!

===

Event Series: Partnership

Venue

Rapid Fire Theatre

10437 83 Ave NW
Edmonton, Alberta T6E 2C7 Canada

Celebrate National Poetry Month with an afternoon of poetry, hosted by Regional Writer in Residence Anna Marie Sewell and featuring two local poets, Kayleigh Cline and Don Perkins. There will also be an open mic session for those interested in sharing their own work. This event is co-presented with the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

Registration: Free but limited. Click on the “Ticket” button to secure your spot!

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

Strathcona County Library

410 Festival Lane
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 5P7 Canada

Soul Speak is an open mic event in the lobby of the Grindstone Theatre and hosted by Ryan Summers. It focuses on self-expression through words — be that through song, poetry, or story telling, this is a space for you to come and share what it is that’s in your soul! 

Admission: Entry by donation at the door, minimum $5 suggested.

Reader Sign-Up: If you would like to read, sign up in advance by messaging Ryan Summers at ryan.james.summers.104@gmail.com

Registration: For both readers and listeners, secure your spot by clicking the “Tickets” button indicating your interest!

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

The Grindstone Theatre

10019 81 Ave
Edmonton, Alberta T6E 1W7 Canada

The Haven Reading Series is the main event for Stroll of Poet members to share their poetry in front of a supportive audience in an atmosphere which is both friendly and inviting. The series runs every-other Monday evening.

Each Haven features four Stroll members who have signed up for their 10-minute reading in advance. Each Haven also features a two-minute-per-reader open mic. It’s a chance for new attendees and existing members alike to share their work – and to get newcomers hooked on the Stroll! The Stroll does its best to prioritize new readers or first time readers, so come one, come all!

To learn more about who the Haven readers will be, you can visit the Stroll of Poets Society website by [clicking here].

Admission: $5 cash at the door.

Registration: No registration required. Just show up!

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

Upper Crust

10909 86 Ave NW
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1E6 Canada

Join in on the Edmonton launch of the first English translation of galáxias, by the renowned Brazilian avant-gardist Haroldo de Campos. This brilliant work (composed over two decades and published in 1984) charts a linguistic odyssey across time and space, from Homer’s ancient Greece to the 1950s Beat Poets. The text’s 50 galactic cantos incorporate literary allusion, citation, and words and phrases in at least a dozen languages, making galáxias a formidable experiment in polyglot poetry that prefigures spoken word. 

Join the translator, Odile Cisneros, and guests Michael O’Driscoll (Professor) and Ryan Fitzpatrick (Writer-in-Residence) from the U of A’s Department of English and Film Studies, for a panel discussion and reading. 

A brief presentation of the companion website by Francerlândio Cruz (MA Candidate) will follow the reading. Moderated by Edmonton’s Poet Laureate Alice Major.

This event will be followed by light refreshments & book signing.

Venue Note: This event will take place in Henderson Hall, which is in Rutherford Library South 1-17. 

Registration: No registration required!

===

Event Series: Publishing

Venue

Rutherford Library South

University of Alberta, 11208 89 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 2J8 Canada

Sip a latte and enjoy original poetry at The Carrot’s uniquely warm and personal open mic night.

Open to performers of all stages and ages, this event presents professionals, amateurs and “closet” artists—some performing for their first time. Enjoy the pleasure of watching, listening and even participating in the acts of a creative community and relish the surprises!

Doors at 6:30pm, poetry from 7:00-9:00pm.

Registration: No registration is required. Just show up!

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

The Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse

9351 118 Ave NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5G 0N3 Canada

The Olive Readings happen on the second Wednesday of every month from January to April and September to December. These well-attended evening readings feature well-established local, Albertan, or Canadian writers reading from recent work. One month out of our year we feature readings from students of Creative Writing classes at Edmonton’s post-secondary institutions, offering a venue to showcase up-and-coming Edmonton talent.

This reading will feature 7 readers from the Horizons Writers Circle. This program provides support and mentorship for writers within the BIPOC, Indigenous, and ESL communities – and other underrepresented writers who live in Edmonton and are at the beginning of their literary journey. On April 9th, the readers will be: Poushali Mitra, Devika Short, Catalina, Patricia, Manna Liu, Ting Pimentel-Elger, and Ryan & Calamansi Club.

A short open mic session follows the main readings. The session is open to all attendees and provides a valuable, safe and non-judgmental reading environment for new writers.

To learn more about this series, you can visit The Olive’s website by [clicking here]. 

Registration: No registration is required. Just show up!

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

Rooster Kitchen & Bar

10732 82 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T6E 6P4 Canada

The Blinks 2025 is not your robot’s poetry! This year is all about “Putting the Art in Artificial Intelligence”. This event is invented and presented by the Stroll of Poets at the Edmonton Poetry Festival and has been for 20 years, making it one of the Festival’s founding events — and our birthday twin!

The Blinks is a challenge to create a poem (a Blink) to perform in 30 seconds, MAX! Any subject or style is welcome… though do remember there could be kids in the audience! Blinks can be snaps of fun, or searing. They can be sad, inspiring, or silly. Whatever tickles your neural nets.

If you don’t feel like showing off your smARTofficial intelligence, don’t you worry! You can still absolutely come along to sit back and enjoy the algo-rhythms. 

Please arrive in good time. Doors open at 6:30pm and the performance starts at 7:00pm.

Reader Sign-Up: If you would like to share a Blink, sign up in advance by sending an email to strollofpoetsblinks@gmail.com to be sent more detailed information. 

Registration: No registration is required for general attendance.

Admission: $5 cash at the door.

===

Event Series: Showcase

Venue

The Aviary

9314 111 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5G 0A3 Canada

A chime sounds, and a voice enters the quiet circle of listeners. Join Poetry & Stillness for poems in a quiet space. 

This event invites participants to bring poems (by you or someone else) to share. Seated in a circle, each participant reads, in turn, one poem – no introduction or commentary, just the poem. There is a moment of quiet attention while listeners absorb the words. Then the next reader speaks.

Poems can range across any subject, form or focus. The guiding spirit is shared listening, as each individual voice speaks into the room’s still space. In all the applause and celebration of festival events, this is a time to step back and remember an essential root of poetry: the quiet space where words are first brought together.

Doors are at 10:30am, and the reading begins at 11am. 

Registration: Limited to 25 participants. To secure your spot, please send an email with the subject “Poetry & Stillness Registration” noting your interest to alice@edmontonpoetryfestival.com

Venue Accessibility Note: Please note that Unity of Edmonton is not wheelchair accessible.

===

Event Series: Outreach

Venue

Unity of Edmonton

11715 108 Ave NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5H 1B8 Canada

GOOOOOOOOD EEEEEEEEEEVENING!  

The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society 

is proud to present, to feature, to showcase, 

to provide for your viewing and aural pleasure 

a curated evening of poetics, politics, dance, & culture

such as you are not likely to see the likes of any other place 

but at The Lorne Cardinal Theatre on April 19 

as part of Theatre Networks’ celebrated Phoenix Series. 

Birthed out of the Great Western Plains brain of Daniel Poitras, a half-breed poet form the Paul First Nation  – this curated collection of curios features: The “Ladies First” ensemble of Nermeen Youssef, Anna Marie Sewell, Luciana Ana Erregue; Ryan Fitzpatrick; Sage Giroux; Chanel Klein; Kat Kat; and Jayme Poitras.

Doors are at 6:30pm, poetry starts at 7:00pm.

Venue Note: The Lorne Cardinal Theatre is located within The Roxy Theatre building.

Registration: Limited. The link to secure your spot is TBA, so stay tuned!

Admission: By donation.

===

Event Series: Partnership, Showcase

Venue

The Roxy Theatre

10708 124 St
Edmonton, Alberta T5M 0H1 Canada

“A Poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness, and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician, who feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not whence or why.”  ― Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Nightingale is an offbeat Edmonton-based spoken word series that is sponsored by The Syndicate of Underground Poets (SUP). 

You are all cordially invited to attend this awesome open mic, the first fifteen minutes of which will feature the illustrious David Brydges. The master of ceremonies will be the astonishing Kathy Fisher. 

A prime location for poetry readings, this event takes place in The Kasbar — an exotic lounge with a superb Greek Mediterranean menu and an equally excellent selection of spirits, ale, and wine. 

Under the auspices of the stars, The Nightingale dares you to partake in an exciting evening of comedy and drama. Come and forge new friendships, or mend old ones anew. But above all, come and sate your sense of adventure – come and have fun!

All disciplines are welcome, including prose. Doors are at 6:30pm, and the show is 7:00-9:30pm.

To learn more about The Nightingale, visit [their Facebook page here].

Admission: Pass-of-the-hat donations.

Registration: No registration required! Just show up.

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Open Mic

Venue

Yianni's Taverna Kasbar (Downstairs)

10444 82 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T6E 2A2 Canada

Literary Editions is co-hosted by the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

This annual poetry event will feature online readings from UAlberta Press’ newest collections: This Sweet Rupture by Omar Ramadan, When Whales Went Back to the Water by Lisa Baird, and Python Love by Shannon Arntfield, all hosted by Aaron Kreuter. 

About Books & Authors:

The poems in Omar Ramadan’s This Sweet Rupture explore family secrets, diaspora, food culture, and war’s impact on personal narratives while navigating cultural identity as a first-generation Lebanese-Canadian.

Lisa Baird’s poems in When Whales Went Back to the Water traverse through joy, loss, parenting, domestic violence, and isolation. Steely, tender, and sensual, this collection creates a reverent container for a broken world.

Shannon Arntfield’s Python Love is a collection of free verse poetry weaving together experiences of childhood abuse and birth trauma from the perspective of a medical doctor who is also a mother.

The new books of each reader will be available from Audreys Books in Edmonton and area, and the University of Alberta Press’ website.

In-Person & Online: This is a hybrid event with both an in-person and online attendance option. Those wishing to attend in-person can join a listening party in Henderson Hall (1-17 Rutherford Library South, University of Alberta Campus).  There will be refreshments. Those wishing to attend online can join via Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent out to all registrants the day before the event and again one hour before the start. 

Registration: Free and limited. To secure your spot, click the “Tickets” button and register.

===

Event Series: Spotlight, Publishing

Venue

Rutherford Library South

University of Alberta, 11208 89 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 2J8 Canada

Co-hosted by Jennifer Bowering Delisle (Edmonton) and Sneha Madhavan-Reese (Ottawa), this online open mic will feature readings from poets who identify as parents–though poems need not be about parenting.

Open mic signup will take place at the start of the event — first-come, first-served. Although everyone is welcome to attend the event, open mic spots are reserved for those who identify as parents.

This event is organized by the League of Canadian Poets Parenting Poets Committee and will not be recorded.

Registration: Free and limited. A link to secure your spot (and receive your Zoom invitation) is TBA, so stay tuned!

===

Event Series: Spotlight

Venue

Online

Calling poetic kids of all ages! Join us for an hour of word play to goof around with rhymes, sounds, and partnered poem-writing. This online workshop is intended for you and your child, you and your caregiver, you and your sibling, you and your grandparent, or you and any writing pal. If you’d rather fly solo, that’s ok too! Poet and parent Kim Mannix will guide you through a few fun games and imaginative ways to approach writing poetry at any age.

Registration: Limited to 12 registrants (and therefore 24 people, should everyone choose to join with their poetry partner). To secure your spot, please send an email with the subject line “Poetry Playroom Registration” to kim@edmontonpoetryfestival.com.

===

Event Series: Outreach

Venue

Online