Events Schedule

A one-on-one conversation with author Amanda Leduc (Disfigured: On Fairy Stories, Disability, and Making Space) and poet Brandon Wint (Divine Animal).

Authors & Presenters

Amanda Leduc    Brandon Wint

If “the poem does not start until you start to tell the truth” then a poet’s work is to be relentless in the search for that truth both on and off the page. This workshop is an excavation into the bone, into the truth, to write poems from the depth of our personal experiences. Through a series of writing exercises and discussion, the workshop will ask, “Who am I?”, “What do I want to say?”, “Why does my story matter?” and “What is my responsibility to myself and to the audience in telling my story?”

To maintain accessibility for all audiences, a limited number of free or by-donation tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis through our Community Access Ticket Program. If you have any questions about this program, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at outreach@litfestalberta.org.

In collaboration with Edmonton Poetry Festival.

Authors & Presenters

Nisha Patel    Titilope Sonuga

Are you fascinated by poetry, languages, and art? Are you curious to witness Indigenous language reclamation and revitalization through creative self-expression? Then please join us for The Polyglot’s launch of our double issue—nimitêyaniy and nitêh. These issues were curated by Naomi McIlwraith and Dorothy Thunder, and feature 36 brilliant Indigenous poets and artists. This launch showcases sixteen of our contributors read their poems or talk about their art, weaving their insights on language, culture, and Indigenous identities. The Polyglot would like to acknowledge and deeply thank the Edmonton Arts Council for their support and funding of this project. A special mahsi cho to the Edmonton Poetry Festival for supporting us with this launch. The covers of the issues feature art by Lana Whiskeyjack (nimitêyaniy) and Jade Roberts (nitêh). The words of the issues correspond to tongue and heart in nêhiyawêwin (Cree).

Authors & Presenters

Antoine Mountain    Corinne Riedel    Daniel Poitras    Dorothy Thunder    Francine Merasty    Jade Roberts    Jennifer Reeser    Karrie Auger    Lana Whiskeyjack    Naomi McIlwraith    Randy Morin    S. Giroux    Saltwater Hank    Stan Nochasak    Tamara (Baldhead) Pearl    Zoë Johnson

Co-curated by LitFest and Edmonton Poetry Festival, this year’s Nonfiction Slam will feature prose stories and poetry entries. 4 stories, 4 poems, one winner. All glory. Grab a beverage and join in to be part of the live audience that votes for winner!

Authors & Presenters

Amina Mohamed    K'alii    Liam Coady    Namitha Rathinappillai    Wendy McGrath

Jordan Abel is a multimedia artist with roots in exploring colonization through textual and poetic interpretation. His work encompasses multifaceted research and presents an intense, calculated and human look at the conditions of living in a colonial state. His works weave a technical mastery of elements and story, provoking us to think about how we read and what we’re reading. His new work, out soon, is again defiant of a single genre. Join us in this reading and Q and A, hosted by Matthew James Weigel.

Authors & Presenters

Jordan Abel    Matthew Weigel

The youngest ever winner of the Griffin Prize, Billy-Ray Belcourt mines his personal history to reconcile the world he was born into with the world that could be in his debut memoir, A History of My Brief Body. With startling honesty, and in a voice distinctly and assuredly his own, Belcourt situates his life experiences within a constellation of seminal queer texts, among which this book is sure to earn its place.

Want to buy the book? Find it here.

Billy-Ray Belcourt (he/him) is a poet, author, and scholar from the Driftpile Cree Nation. He won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection, This Wound Is a World, which was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Belcourt is a recipient of the prestigious Rhodes scholarship and an Indspire Award, the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows on its leaders. He is currently working on his PhD at the University of Alberta and will join UBC’s Creative Writing Program as an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Creative Writing in January 2020.

Authors & Presenters

Billy-Ray Belcourt    Emily Riddle

Join us in meeting Ian Keteku, spoken word poet, musician, and artist, with a look into his celebrated body of work, his new book and latest album, and an immersive Q and A about his process of writing, his history as an artist, and where he is headed next. Ian’s work is transcendent, defying the boundaries of single disciplines and genres, and asking listeners to lean in and embrace art for all it has to offer. This event is not to be missed for fans of sound, words, and music. Hosted by Edmonton Poet Laureate, Nisha Patel.

Authors & Presenters

Ian Keteku    Nisha Patel

Three panelists with memoirs on incredible resilience, and finding your identity amid challenges of all kinds. Panelists include Helen Knott, David A. Robertson and Christa Couture.

Authors & Presenters

Christa Couture    David A. Robertson    Emily Riddle    Helen Knott

To kick off the festival in virtual space, the contributors to Beyond the Food Court —all writers from diverse ethnic backgrounds that call Edmonton home — gather to celebrate the launch of their anthology, along with editor and publisher Luciana Erregue.

Authors & Presenters

Adriana Oniță    Ana Ruiz Aguirre    Anna Marie Sewell    Asma Sayed    Leilei Chen    Luciana Erregue-Sacchi    Maitham Salman    Marco Melfi    Mila Bongco-Philipzig    Peter Midgley    Shimelis Gebremichael    Tazeen Hasan    Yasser Abdellatif

Wind down festival week with our traditional chorus of local voices. You’ve got all the choice in the world as our café readings mark the festival’s last day. Dozens of poets will share brief readings of their work in cafes around downtown. It’s for young and old, newbies and pros – just sign up as a member of the Edmonton Poetry Festival and then come and share the company of Edmonton’s poetry community.

The Cafe Readings are full. We are no longer accepting signups for this event. Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm and interest!

Venues:
Audreys Books 10702 Jasper Avenue
Three Bananas Café 9918 102 Ave
The Nook Café 10153 97 St NW

Click here to download the cafe readings schedule.

This event is sponsored by Robert Less-Miller.

The Edmonton Poetry Festival is throwing it’s annual poetry party and volunteer appreciation night, with internationally acclaimed poets and local superstars to show what the power of poetic performance is all about. This exciting event brings in some of the most powerful voices active in poetry today. Join us as we welcome the renowned Buddy Wakefield as well as Lady Vanessa, Nasra Adem, Ahmed Knowmadic, and musician Selassie Drah to celebrate poetry at its most vivid form.

Alive! Is a heavy-hitting, multidisciplinary poetry experience curated and performed by nationally-celebrated poet Brandon Wint as well as an accompaniment of dancers and musicians who have created a one-of-a-kind showcase. Brandon will be accompanied by Justin Khuong, Rebecca Parsons, Mpoe Mogale, Jane Berry, Bhuyash Neupane, Jeannie Vandekerkhove and Amy Voyer. Following Alive! will be award-winning poet Titilope Sonuga’s internationally-acclaimed poetry and musical showcase, Open, which recently hit the world stage on tour before being brought back home for new enthusiasts and old friends alike to take in and enjoy. Open is backed by local favourites MelAfrique.

Homebody invites prominent queer poets from across Canada to showcase their work in an exploration of the way home, and their place in it, manifests in themselves. Bringing in Victoria poet Arleen Paré, queer Peranakan poet Natalie Wee, editor of Glass Buffalo Matthew Stepanic, and local author Jason Purcell, this event will hopes to highlight the cross-section of poetry and queerness in today’s world and what it means for these authors.

The ever-popular Wine and Wild Women Wordsmiths is back! And this year’s readers amplify the power of the female voice. Like poetry, there is a sea of wine styles and types to choose from. Just like Women, the anthocyanins in wine have great heart-health benefits. It’s Friday night and we invite you to enjoy distilled words, quality grapes, and the company of women who speak up, and make their voice heard. This event is hosted by S.G. Wong.

And the price of admission includes a sample of four wines to match our distinct female poets. Thank you to our friends at Prestige for sponsoring our wine samples tonight.

Where are you going? Where have you been? If there was ever a more Edmonton question, these poets would love to hear it! Take a listen as these mostly-local writers define home in unusual ways, searching for it in the strangest places inside and outside the city. Come out and listen to stories of how they come and go, bringing their work to CBC’s Centre Stage.

Sharing the spotlight are Zachary Polis, Catherine Owen, Marita Dachsel, and Nermeen Youssef. Hosted by Michael Gravel.

In this workshop, participants will explore how the lands we carry with us can be both places of belonging and epicentres of disconnection. Drawing from Robert Macfarlane’s lyrical book of essays, Landmarks, participants look at creating their own word-hoards for the places they live and the landscapes we carry within them in the form of personal or familial memories. Writers of all genres and all levels are most welcome. Please come prepared with notebook and pen/pencil, and some sturdy shoes for walking in the Garden.

This is a workshop event. Admission to this event is not included in a festival pass.

U of A Botanic Garden

Poets and visual artists come together in an evening of live-painting inspired by the poets’ work. This event pairs each prominent poet with an artist who will seek to capture the essences of the words on their canvases. Poets Dwennimen, Doyali Islam, Liam Coady, Claire Kelly, and Megan Dart join visual artists Rebecca Pickard, Adriana Onita, Alyson Davies, Lindsay Knox, and Hilary Mussell.

The 8th edition of French Twist, Edmonton Poetry Festival’s francophone event, is designed and hosted by Josée Thibeault with the view to inviting audience members into a unique bilingual experience of poetry at the heart of the Edmonton Poetry Festival. This year’s edition featured at Café Bicyclette in the French quarter will highlight an exciting array of poets reading and performing in French and in translation. Pierrette Requier, Edmonton’s former poet laureate, instigator and coordinator of the last 7 editions of French Twist, will grace us with her presence and her works. We look forward to sharing our Mots de chez nous !

La 8e édition du French Twist, l’événement francophone du Edmonton Poetry Festival, est conçue et animée par Josée Thibeault. Le public est invité à vivre une expérience bilingue et unique en poésie, au cœur du Festival de poésie d’Edmonton. L’édition de cette année présentée au Café Bicyclette, dans le quartier francophone, mettra en vedette un éventail passionnant de poètes lisant et se produisant en français et en d’autres langues. Pierrette Requier, ancienne poète officielle de la ville d’Edmonton, instigatrice et coordinatrice des 7 dernières éditions du French Twist, nous honorera de sa présence et de ses oeuvres. Nous sommes heureux de partager les Mots de chez nous !

RAFA

Presented in Partnership with Glass Buffalo Magazine.

Glass Buffalo is back again with their annual showcase of up-and-coming voices, as well as beloved favourites, to the poetry scene. Hear from emerging poets who are fresh and skilled in their craft, as they share their work and discuss the role poetry plays in making a home for themselves in their communities. Featured contributors to the magazine Alex Allen, Paige Cardinal, and James Collier will be joined with special guest and celebrated poet Randy Lundy.

Please join Marita Dachsel, celebrated Victoria-based poet, for drinks as she reads from There Are Not Enough Sad Songs. She will be joined by Edmonton’s own Jenna Butler, poet, professor, essayist, and organic farmer from northern Alberta, reading from Magnetic North: Sea Voyage to Svalbard. Lastly, they will be joined by Astrid Blodgett, reading as a special tribute for her father, E.D. Blodgett, a well-known and much beloved poet in the community. She will be reading from his work Apostrophes VIII: Nothing is But You and I.

Haven’t been keeping up with CanLit? We have! The Edmonton Poetry Festival is happy to showcase five writers, highlighting the best new books to hit the shelves. Join us as we explore the local, national, international scope of writing in this city. Each poet will share their work, and have an opportunity to chat about their writing.

Sharing the spotlight are Anna Marie Sewell, Matthew Stepanic, Ellen Kartz, Titilope Sonuga, and Doyali Islam. Hosted by Michael Gravel.

Poetry Central is your chance for a lunch-time poetry meet-up in the downtown! Watch some of Edmonton’s emerging and established, page and stage poets, have a short-order poem written for you on the spot, and pick up festival information or a free poetry book.

Performers

• Anna Mioduchowska is a poet, translator, author of stories, essays and book reviews. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, literary journals, newspapers, on buses, and has been aired on the radio. She has published two poetry collections.
• Charlotte Cranston‘s passions include words, learning, socially-engaged art, and big messy projects. She was named Edmonton’s first Youth Poet Laureate in 2015.
• Hailey Siracky is a theological librarian in Edmonton. Her poem, “how do you use your voice?” was featured on Edmonton Public Transit in Spring 2018.
• Nermeen Youssef is a multilingual poet documenting life through the lens of an expatriate scientist.
• Julie C. Robinson has many interests but poetry continues to be her favourite. Her book of poetry is Jail Fire (2013) and she is the editor of Looking Back, Moving Forward (2018), a multi-genre anthology of multilingual writers.

An editing masterclass with Peter Midgley.

After Peter won the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, he remarked in an interview that editing is like carving a delicate relief on an eggshell, that he is terrified each time he starts to edit a book. Many seasoned editors chastised him for that remark: you should have confidence, they told him. You should think like a winner, for that is what you are. Be bold and confident. Those are fine traits to aspire to, but what gets pushed aside brashly as a result of such thinking is that the craft of editing needs vulnerability. Boldness and confidence in writing and editing emerge from embracing fear and vulnerability. This is a workshop about embracing the hidden potential of vulnerability in your editing practice.

This is a workshop event. Admission to this event is not included in a festival pass.

What does it mean to bring the word home? pê-kîwêhtatân itwêwin will posit this question to four talented indigenous poets, listening in on their musings as they showcase their work at the headlining event of the Edmonton Poetry Festival. Amiskwaciwâskahika (Edmonton) sits on Treaty 6 land. Treaty 6 was signed on August 23, 1876 and stretches from western Alberta, through Saskatchewan and into Manitoba; and includes 50 First Nations. Treaty 6 is a traditional gathering place for the Cree, Blackfoot, Metis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/ Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, Inuit, and many others. Their histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our art and culture communities. This event features nationally-renowned poets and local talent.