Events Schedule
Events
List of events in Photo View
Winking, Blinking and Naughty
Presented in Partnership with the Stroll of Poets This ain’t no snappy musical or Gypsy Lee burlesque. It’s the Blinks! Back, just like that. The biggest stage for the smallest set of half-minute poetry. ...
Indigenous Poets Society
The Indigenous Poets Society hosts a reading that casts a critical eye on Indigenous-Settler relations, celebrates our connection to land, explores Indigenous identity, uproots the source of community struggle, and finds hope within. This ...
Fighting Normal
This event is sponsored by the Pratch Family Foundation. The Fighting Normal event is spun off a multi-discipline art installation created by poet Amy Willans and painter Laurie MacFayden, which examines the stigma and ...
Poetry & Stillness
Poetry and stillness are inseparable. Natalie Goldberg writes, “Behind writing, behind words is no words. We need to know about that place.” And Basho’s Haiku, Stillness— / soaking into the rocks, / the cicada’s ...
The Café Readings
Wind down your festival week with our traditional chorus of local voices. Dozens of poets will share brief readings of their work in cafés around the downtown area. These events are for young and ...
Poetic Offerings at the Japanese Garden
Join Jan Zwicky for a three-hour workshop focussing on the musical aspects of poetic language. The workshop aims to heighten awareness of rhythm and sound through close readings of sample poems by established authors ...
Alchemy: Our Annual Poetry Party
Alchemy is the name of the expansive, diverse and dynamic poetry party being curated by local spoken word artist Brandon Wint as part of this year’s festival. The event will welcome the remarkable talents ...
Poetry & Philosophy with Jan Zwicky
One of Canada’s most celebrated and innovative poets, Jan Zwicky blends together poetry and philosophy in her work that focuses on ecological thinking. At her only performance for this year’s festival, Jan will share ...
Queer Expressions
For those who identify on the LGBTQ spectrum, the words and terms we use to label ourselves are central to how we shape our identities. As times change, so do the queer expressions we ...
Family Ties
Just as a family is made up of many branches and connections, poetry has a variety of roots through different forms, from performance to the page. At this eclectic event, new and old generations ...
Gone Fishing: A Workshop with Alice Major
Update April 27, 2018: Lorna Crozier is unable to atten the festival due to a family health emergency. Alice Major will lead this workshop in her stead. Presented in partnership with the Canadian Authors ...
Wine and Wild Women Wordsmiths
Our popular event Wine and Wild Women Wordsmiths is back! Just like poetry, there is a sea of wine styles and varietals to choose from, and just like women, the anthocyanins in wine have ...
Lunch with the GGs
Get up close and personal with two nominees for this year’s Governor General’s Award for Poetry, Lorna Crozier (see update below) and Benjamin Hertwig, at this VIP lunch catered by the Matrix Hotel. Both ...
All Star Slam
Prepare yourself for a night filled with high energy and poetic wizardry from 8 of Edmonton’s all-star performance poets! Funds raised at this event will support the Breath in Poetry Slam team as they ...
Howl
In partnership with Metro Cinema, the Edmonton Poetry Festival is pleased to present this experimental film about iconic poet Allen Ginsberg. Starring James Franco, this 2010 movie explores the forming of the Beat Generation, ...
Literary Cocktails
Please join the staff of the University of Alberta Press for readings and refreshments as they launch their newest literary titles: Songs for Dead Children, E.D. Blodgett Welcome to the Anthropocene, Alice Major Annie ...
Local Books 3 at Centre Stage
In the third installment of Local Books, two Edmonton-based writers and the visiting U of A Writer in Residence discuss and share poems from their recent books, which border on experimental. Sharing the spotlight ...
Masterclass with Christian Campbell
Join Trinidadian-Bahamian poet, essayist, and cultural critic Christian Campbell in this invigorating two-hour workshop. His debut collection, Running the Dusk, was shortlisted for several awards and won the Aldeburgh Prize for Best First Collection. ...
Pretty Goblins
In partnership with Workshop West, we’re pleased to present this evening of Edmontonian & Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist Beth Graham’s new play. Laura can’t help but revisit a turbulent past when she discovers ...
In One’s Own Voice
How does one speak their own truth? Join this eclectic group of poets, who each have cultivated a unique voice and an honest perspective in their work. Expect a moving evening of diverse poetry ...
French Twist
The 7th edition of French Twist, Edmonton Poetry Festival’s francophone event is designed and hosted by Pierrette Requier with the view to inviting audience members into a unique bilingual experience of poetry at the ...
Finding Your Voice
Presented in partnership with Glass Buffalo Magazine. Hear from emerging and talented poets as they share their work and discuss how they found and developed their poetic voices. Featured contributors to Glass Buffalo magazine ...
Brown Bag Lunch with Marilyn Dumont
This lunch-hour event features acclaimed poet and U of A faculty member Marilyn Dumont who will read and discuss some of her work. Refreshments will be available.
Poetry Central 3
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, ...
nêhiyawêtân!
Join us as we host an evening of celebration, honouring the work of Indigenous writers. Four of Canada’s leading Indigenous poets gather to share their voices and stories alongside students from the Poetry Moves ...
Vintage: An Evening of Works from Well-Aged Poets
This twelfth annual evening of well-aged poets features local poets and special guest reader Giselle Lemire. The evening includes wine and cheese (cash bar available). To be a reader, please register in advance by ...
Local Books 2 at Centre Stage
In the second installment of Local Books, four more Edmonton writers talk about and share poems from their recent books. Sharing the spotlight are: Richard Davies: With his chapbook, OPUS (in Six Suites). Rayanne ...
Poetry Central 2
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, ...
Made Ya Blink!
Presented in Partnership with The Stroll of Poets. It’s eye-to-eye and word-to-word-year 12 of Edmonton’s famous Blinks, organized by the Stroll of Poets. Think-rap challenge in 30 seconds. Think-make the audience blink. (Laugh, sob, ...
Local Books 1 at Centre Stage 2018
Four Edmonton writers bring their recent books to show off the local and international scope of writing in this city. Each will chat about their book and share some poems. Sharing the spotlight are: ...
Poetry Central 1
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, ...
Drone & Words
Drone & Words is a collaborative showcase featuring spoken word artists paired with the soundscapes of experimental musicians. This event marks the 4th edition of this format, created and curated by Durell Smith and ...
A Wedding of Women’s Words & Music
This is the night to take your wedding threads on the town! No decade too old. No gown too gaudy. No cumberbund unwelcome. Join us to eat cake and toast poetry as we celebrate ...
Crow Said Poetry Launch
Join NeWest Press as they launch Crow Said Poetry! To celebrate, they will be showcasing the poetry publication history of NeWest Press, with local poets reading selections from their back catalogue, as well as ...
Multilingual Voices – Expanding the Can Lit Canon
The Polyglot will host a poetry reading and roundtable on the topic of including multilingual poetic voices in the CanLit canon. Their event will feature readings by ten local polyglot poets, whose work is ...
A Celebration of Poetry at Rutherford House
As founder of the University of Alberta, Alexander Cameron Rutherford evinced a great appreciation of literature, including poetry. In fact, Eric Broadus, the University of Alberta’s first English Professor (in 1908), dedicated his 1923 ...
Here, There, and Everywhere: Outlying Voices
This event is free, but requires registration: https://outlyingvoices.eventbrite.ca Three poets with strong rural sensibilities (Thomas Trofimuk, Angela Kublik, and Leanne Myggland-Carter) will explore how the big, open spaces outside of urban areas complement and ...
Purse Verse & Pocket Poems
Terse verse comes in many styles. From limericks and clerihews to haiku and tanka, these little treasures can express words of encouragement or simple salutations. They’re fun to write and pack big-time punch! In ...
Beyond Reconciliation
As most of Canada celebrates 150 years of colonialism, it is a time for our Indigenous nations’ writers to reflect on what truth and reconciliation means. Beyond the treaties. Beyond the laws. Beyond the ...
The Café Readings
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 ...
Prayer and Poetry – A Workshop with Richard Harrison
Gathered in the Devonian Gardens, participants in this workshop will explore poetry and prayer where poetry is a kind of answer, however uncertain. And prayer is a kind of request. These two seem opposite, yet in the ...
Birds on a Wire – Our Annual Poetry Party
Prepare yourself for a night of rousing music and poetry inspired by the songs of the late Leonard Cohen. Local singer-songwriters will perform covers of their personal favorites by the Bard of the Boudoir, ...
Strathcona County Library 11th Annual Evening of Poetry
Marilyn Dumont and Pierrette Requier, Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, join writer-in-residence Richard van Camp for an evening of poetry. Share some of your own work during the open mic session. Adults only. Wine will be ...
Clouds on the Horizon – Query?
Though LGBTQ people have won many rights in recent years, there is always more work to do, and they must be constantly vigilant about any adversity. Only last year, the deadliest mass shooting by ...
Skylines: The View From Here
Prairie skies, the rocky rim of the Atlantic, the flatline of the Fraser River Delta, city skylines and the long view of the past – this is poetry that lets you see the skyline ...
Cutlines: Through the Landscapes of Experience
Cutlines map a landscape, cutting precise lines to survey prairie and forest. The poets you’ll meet in Cutlines lay down their precise lines to map the complicated landscapes of the human heart: Nora Gould’s ...
YEP Showcase
YEP – that’s Young Edmonton Poets. And yep, you want to be here for this showcase of young voices followed by an open mic for youth aged 13-23. Members of YEP! highlight what poetry ...
Our Planet, Our Poems: Your Work Now
A workshop from Jane Munro. As a witness in an era of crisis, what do you feel yourself called to do? How do you write a political poem without being didactic? What learning and ...