Festival 2022  Events Schedule

Edmonton Poet Laureate Titilope Sonuga in performance for WORD*LAB in the CO*LAB. With Sampler Cafe, a local beat making collective, for Boyle Street Arts Night. Hosted by Dwennimmen (aka Shima Robinson). Join for this Edmonton Poetry Festival Kick-Off event!

COVID-19 Safety:
CO*LAB requires masking while indoors at all times. 

Authors & Presenters

Dwennimmen     Sampler Cafe Collective     Titilope Sonuga

Venue

CO*LAB

9641 102A Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T5H 0G3 Canada

Join Poets for Ukraine Chapbook contributions reading. There will also be an open mic and music by Roylin Picou. Proceeds from the chapbook will be donated to the Second Front Ukrainian Foundation.

Authors & Presenters

Poets for Ukraine     Roylin Picou

Venue

Yianni's Taverna Kasbar (Downstairs)

10444 82 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T6E 2A2 Canada

Poetry Central is your chance for a lunch-time poetry meet up. Hear from two of Edmonton’s most accomplished poets Alice Major and Marilyn Dumont. Event takes place in Community Rooms 1 & 2.

Authors & Presenters

Alice Major     Dwennimmen     Marilyn Dumont

Venue

Stanley Milner Library

7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V4 Canada

Speaking from Experience is a local collective that creates stories from the melding of poetry and music featuring local poet Some Sum on the microphone. Hosted by Dwennimmen.

Authors & Presenters

Dwennimmen     Some-Sum

Venue

The Aviary

9314 111 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5G 0A3 Canada

Poetry Central is your chance for a lunch-time poetry meet up. Hear from Shazia Hafiz Ramji and Matthew James Weigel reading from their most recent works. Hosted by Alice Major.

Authors & Presenters

Alice Major     Matthew James Weigel     Shazia Hafiz Ramji

Venue

Latitude 53

10248 106 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0J2 Canada

Norma Dunning, Governor General’s Literay Award winner and Writer in Residence for the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries, hosts the Near Dead Poets Society. The Near Dead Poets Society is a made up of Edmontonians 45 years and older who meet weekly to read and share their writing.

Authors & Presenters

Norma Dunning

Venue

Stanley Milner Library

7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V4 Canada

Join the Indigenous Poets Society showcasing Indigenous poets sharing truths, making voices heard, and coming together to build community strength. Enjoy a showcase of readings and performances by members of the Edmonton Indigenous Poets Society. Hosted by Norma Dunning.

Authors & Presenters

Indigenous Poets Society     Norma Dunning

Venue

The Aviary

9314 111 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5G 0A3 Canada

The Sublime Feminine is an event hosted by Sublime Intervention Collective to honour and celebrate local, influential, feminine identifying people. This night will feature poetry readings, musical performances, live visual art and more! There will also be a silent auction at the event to fundraise for S.I.C’s future events and endeavours. The items in the silent auction have and will be curated from local female owned businesses. S.I.C hopes to uphold a safe and welcoming environment to amplify the voices and stories of all the local sublime feminine creatives.

Authors & Presenters

Dwennimmen     Sublime Intervention Collective

Venue

The Aviary

9314 111 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5G 0A3 Canada

Join Edmonton’s Poet Laureate Titilope for an intensive masterclass.

Bring me your life rafts, a song in the storm, a word like an oasis in the desert. What keeps your heart soft and sends the blood rushing to your cheeks? Let’s build a cathedral of tenderness here, a place to name what was lost and honour what refuses to die. In this masterclass we are digging through the rubble and pulling into the light poems that keep our hearts soft. In a series of writing, reading and listening exercises, we will explore how art can offer refuge and peace in tumultuous times.

Hosted by Grayson Thate.

Authors & Presenters

Grayson Thate     Titilope Sonuga

Venue

Latitude 53

10248 106 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0J2 Canada

In partnership with the University of Alberta Press, Literary Cocktails will feature readings from UAlberta Press’ newest poetry collections: Arborophobia by Nancy Holmes, Separation Anxiety by Gavin Bradley, and You Might Be Sorry You Read This by Michelle Poirier Brown, as well as from a new essay collection: Blue Portugal & Other Essays by Theresa Kishkan.

Arborophobia is a poetic spiritual reckoning. Its elegies, litanies, and indictments concern wonder, guilt, and grief about the journey of human life and the state of the natural world; is spiritual and emotional solace possible or even desirable? Answers abound in measured, texturally intimate, and often surprising ways throughout Nancy Holmes’s collection, offering both a hard look at what we have done to this beautiful planet as well as to those we love and companionship for all who grapple with the problem of hope in times of crisis.

Separation Anxiety is Gavin Bradley’s poignant debut collection. His poems explore the emotional toll of different kinds of separation: from a partner, from a previously held sense of self, or a from one’s homeland and the people left behind when one becomes an immigrant halfway around the world. Together, these personal poems build a narrative that describes the loneliness and anxiety experienced by the author since leaving his native Northern Ireland, all while showing a lasting love for the people, the language, and the land to ultimately convey a message of hope.

You Might Be Sorry You Read This is Michelle Poirier Brown’s stunning debut collection. Her poetic memoir break silences and reconcile identity as it unflinchingly recounts the author’s childhood trauma and her coming to terms with a hidden Indigenous identity when the poet discovered her Métis heritage at age 38. This collection is, therefore, a journey of pain, belonging, hope, and resilience, a demonstration of poetry’s power to refine anger into something both useful, often humorous, and even beautiful while nevertheless honouring the complexities of Indigenous identity and the raw experiences of womanhood, mental illness, and queer selfhood.

Blue Portugal & Other Essays is a collection of braided essays through which Theresa Kishkan thinks deeply about the natural world, mourns and celebrates the aging body, interrogates and gently contests recorded history, and explores art and visual phenomena. Gathering personal genealogies, medical histories, and early land surveys together with the liminal spaces of memory and insights from music, colour theory, horticulture, and textile production, Kishkan weaves patterns and dangles loose threads, welcoming readers to share her intellectual and emotional preoccupations. Through this intimate awareness of place and time Blue Portugal & Other Essays offers a sense of wonder at the interconnectedness of all things.

Authors & Presenters

Dwennimmen     Gavin Bradley     Michelle Poirier Brown     Nancy Holmes     Theresa Kishkan

Venue

Online

Poetry Central is your chance for a lunch-time poetry meet up. Hear from Peter Midgley and Jenna Butler reading from their most recent works. Hosted by Alice Major. Event takes place in Community Rooms 1 & 2.

Authors & Presenters

Alice Major     Jenna Butler     Peter Midgley

Venue

Stanley Milner Library

7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V4 Canada

Hosted by Katherine Gibson, Lost Launch features local poets who had a collection published during the pandemic. Lisa Martin and Jason Purcell read from their most recent works. Event takes place in Community Rooms 1 & 2.

Authors & Presenters

Dwennimmen     Jason Purcell     Lisa Martin

Venue

Stanley Milner Library

7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V4 Canada

Hosted by Marco Melfi, Lost Launch features local poets who had a collection published during the pandemic. Hear Catherine Owen and Paul Pearson read from their most recent works, with YouthWrite’s Spoken Word Choir performing original works of spoken word poetry to close the night. Event takes place in Community Rooms 1 & 2.

Authors & Presenters

Catherine Owen     Marco Melfi     Paul Pearson     Spoken Word Choir

Venue

Stanley Milner Library

7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V4 Canada

Inclement Weather is a two-part event, including a workshop and reading, that highlights how poetry can spark conversation about climate change and our energy future that is sustainable and socially equitable.

This event is Part One of Inclement Weather – the Workshop. Join visual artist Hannah Gelderman and poets Alice Major and Kim Mannix for a two-hour workshop that explores our fears around the climate crisis, and what art can do to offer hope for the future. Attendees will have a chance to get creative with zine making, collage, drawing, writing and found/blackout poetry. Materials provided. Capacity is limited. Advanced registration required.

Hosted by Hannah Gelderman.

Authors & Presenters

Alice Major     Hannah Gelderman     Kim Mannix

Venue

Latitude 53

10248 106 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0J2 Canada

Hosted by Writer in Residence for the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries, Rayane Haines. Featuring Emily Riddle and Uchechukwu Umezurike reading from their latest works.

Authors & Presenters

Emily Riddle     Rayanne Haines     Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike

Venue

Strathcona County Library

410 Festival Lane
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 5P7 Canada

Inclement Weather is a two-part event, including a workshop and reading, that highlights how poetry can spark conversation about climate change and our energy future that is sustainable and socially equitable.

This event is Part Two of Inclement Weather – the Readings. Join Edmonton poets Alexis Kienlen, Kelly Shepherd, Marco Melfi, Jennifer Bowering Delisle and Anna Marie Sewell read poetry that addresses the climate crisis, offering words of reflection, warning and hope. There will also be an open-mic portion, open to Inclement Weather – Workshop participants to share what they’ve worked on earlier.

Hosted by: Kim Mannix.

Authors & Presenters

Alexis Kienlen     Anna Marie Sewell     Jennifer Bowering Delisle     Kelly Shepherd     Kim Mannix     Marco Melfi

Venue

Latitude 53

10248 106 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0J2 Canada

Close out the Edmonton Poetry Festival 2022 in great fashion with our EPF Poetry Party feat. Rayanne Haines, V. Guzman, Mad John and Tzadeka & Murder Hornettes.

Authors & Presenters

Mad John     Rayanne Haines     Tzadeka and the Murder Hornettes     V. Guzman

Venue

Latitude 53

10248 106 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0J2 Canada

Come to Audreys Books for local OPEN MIC experiences. Signup will open 30 minutes prior to event start time. Readers will have 5 mins to read their work. Try something new or hone your reading performance skills. Hosted by Grayson Thate.

Authors & Presenters

Grayson Thate

Venue

Audreys Books

10702 Jasper Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 3J5 Canada