2015 Headliners

Nasra is a queer, Muslim, Oromo creator/curator living in Amiskwaciwȃskahikan (Edmonton) on Treaty 6 territory. They were the Youth Poet Laureate of Edmonton from 2016 to 2017 and are currently the Director of Sister to Sister, an artistic showcase for/by femmes and women of colour. They are also the Festival Director of Black Arts Matter—Alberta’s interdisciplinary Black arts festival—and were the 2017 recipient of the Mayor’s Emerging Artist award. Nasra’s first poetry chapbook A God Dance in Human Cloth with Glass Buffalo Publishing celebrates the soft warrior in all of us; a call to step into our divinity and into ourselves, with fists unclenched.

Marsha Barber is the author of two poetry books: What is the Sound of Someone Unravelling (2011) and All the Lovely Broken People (2015), published by Borealis Press. She has published in The Antigonish Review, The Walrus and a wide range of other periodicals, and won several awards for her work.

Judy Tate Barlow is a singer, poet, mother, lover of everyday life!

Jalal Barzanji is originally from Iraqi Kurdistan. He has worked as a poet & journalist since 1970. He has published seven books of poetry, and hundreds of columns about democracy, peace and freedom of expression in Iraq. After his two year imprisonment under Saddam Hussin in the late 1980s and further political repression into the 1990s, Barzanji and his family fled to Turkey. They remained there 11 months before eventually immigrating to Canada.

In 2007 Jalal was appointed as Edmonton’s first PEN Canada Writer In Exile in the city of Edmonton. During his time as a Writer in Exile he wrote his prison memoir (The Man In Blue Pajamas, which was published by University of Alberta in 2011). He has just published his collected poems with the U of A Press.

Highlights:

• Book of the year 2012
• Nominated for Book Publishing Association of Alberta Non-Fiction for 2012
• For word awards shortlist.
• #4 Edmonton Journal’s best seller

Stephen T. Berg describes himself as a “disappointed hippy, approximate monk, writer and poet.” He lives in Edmonton and has worked for Hope Mission, a social care agency for homeless people, for the past 25 years. He has read his poetry and staged performances of his words in several venues since 2005. His work has appeared in such publications as Orion, Earthshine, Geez, Prairie Messenger, and the Edmonton Journal’s Religion page. The poetry in Berg’s recent and first book of poems, There Are No Small Moments, published by The Rasp and The Wine, is described by author Trevor Herriot, as, “…leaping from the page like flames from the fingers of the desert monk.”

Steven Michael Berzensky (Mick Burrs) won a $1000 Saskatchewan Poetry Manuscript Award for his 3rd book, The Blue Pools of Paradise (Coteau, 1983) and the $1000 Sask Poetry Book Award for his 5th book, Variations on the Birth of Jacob (Muses Co., 1997). Living in Edmonton in the early 1970s, Mick hosted 2 popular weekly radio shows at CKUA.

In 1970, Ted Plantos encouraged me to write poetry (i.e., Purple Cowboy, Glasseaters’ Banquet and section in The House Poets). In 2007, my essay on “The Creative Process (Songwriting, Composing,Writing Poetry)” was accepted by Imagination in Action. In 2008, I contributed Plate Spinning in America to Crossing Lines: Poets Who Came to Canada in the Vietnam War Era. In 2009, And Left a Place to Stand On accepted Zen River Memories. In 2010, my collection, On the Other Side of Paradise, was published. Recent poems appeared in Arborealis and Decabration.

Jenna Joyce Broomfield is an Inuk from North West River, Nunatsiavut (Labrador) and is currently attending Law School at the University of Alberta. Her prior educational background includes a certificate in Pre Law Studies for Native Peoples, a degree in Native Studies and a certificate in Aboriginal Governance and Partnership.

As a result of many generations of colonization, Jenna’s early upbringing was only semi-traditional, and she always felt as though something was missing. As a teen she began a conscious cultural revitalization journey and began seeking and learning the traditional teachings of her culture. Jenna uses her teachings to spark safe cultural dialogue between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous peoples through performance and educational workshops. Every step, when walking between two worlds is a difficult but important one, and Jenna feels it is necessary for those who feel the responsibility of doing so, take every opportunity to bridge the gaps of understanding, to work towards peaceful coexistence, sharing of knowledge and Indigenous pride in her community.

David C. Brydges is an 8 year Edmonton Stroll of Poet’s member, associate member of the League of Canadian Poets, and Ontario Poetry Society branch manager for Cobalt. He’s artistic director of Spring Pulse Poetry Festival, Northern Ontario’s largest poetry/arts festival. David self-published 4 chapbooks and produced two short documentaries (The Poetrain Express, Blue Train). David is an event planner, cultural entrepreneur, and artistic director for the “Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour”, which is touring the country by train in celebration of national poetry month.

Huit ans membre de l’Edmonton Stroll of Poets, David C. Brydges est membre associé de la League of Canadian Poets, gérant régional de la Ontario Poetry Society et directeur artistique du Spring Pulse Poetry Festival, important festival poétique et artistique du nord de l’Ontario. À compte d’auteur, David publie 4 recueils poétiques et réalise deux courts documentaires (The Poetrain Express et Blue Train). David est planificateur d’événements, entrepreneur culturel et directeur artistique du Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour qui traverse le pays pour marquer le mois national de la poésie.

Brian Chan was born in Georgetown, Guyana and emigrated to Canada in 1982. His first collection of poems, Thief With Leaf, won the Guyana Prize for Literature. His other books are Fabula Rasa, Scratches on the Air, The Gift of Screws and Readiness. He is also a musical and visual artist.

Liam Coady’s work is special for its ability to foreground the human possibilities of social unity, personal resilience, love and enduring hopefulness. A member of the 2011 National Slam Champion Team and a 2-time finalist for the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, Liam has performed and toured cross Canada and internationally.

Margaret Code, a member of the Art Bar Poetry Series team in Toronto, has been writing since 1995. Her poems have appeared in Lichen, Garm Lu. Labour of Love, Best American Poets (Vol. 4) and Chickadee. In 2013 she won an audience-voted Best Originals poetry contest. She attends a variety of writing events including Hot Sauced Words, Live Words, Inkslinger, Writers Coop, Plasticene Poetry, and Urban Gallery. Leisure hours put Margaret on a tennis court or a bicycle.

Patrick Connors chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press in 2013. He was also recently published in Belgium, India, and Timmins. He was literary juror of Big Art Book 2013, a digital project of Scarborough Arts. He recently performed at the Austin International Poetry Festival, and, for the third time, at The Art Bar Poetry Series. He is a manager for the Toronto chapter of 100,000 Poets for Change.

Myrl Coulter is the author of two award-winning books: A Year of Days (UAP) and The House With the Broken Two (Anvil Press). Her new book, The Left-Handed Dinner Party and Other Stories is about perplexing family secrets and the haunting consequences of loss. She lives in Edmonton.

Megan Dart: Poet. Playwright. Producer. Megan Dart minds her p’s (but not always her q’s). Alongside her sister Beth, Megan is the co-Artistic Producer of award-winning indie company Catch the Keys Productions, best known for its site-specific, immersive theatre creations. Megan is also the co-Artistic Producer of Common Ground Arts Society, the Communications Specialist with Fringe Theatre, a collective member of The Edmonton Poetry Brothel, and a past member of the Edmonton Slam Team. Megan was named one of the Top 100 Women in Business by the Wanderer Online, and is a University of Grant MacEwan Distinguished Alumni.

The Deceptive Cadence Players use music and poetry to explore the truth and lies of art and life. They are poet Melissa Morelli Lacroix, singer Mireille Rijavec and pianist Dessi Gavrailova.

Alyson is an Edmonton actor and playwright. She is a graduate of the BFA Acting program at the U of A. Recent credits include Tree Hugger (Foundation Theatre), Working It Out (AWHC), Much Ado About Nothing (Thou Art Here Theatre), The Uprights (Expanse Movement Festival 2014), The Velveteen Rabbit (Fort Edmonton Park) and Murielle (Blarney Productions/ Promise Productions). Alyson is an artistic associate of Thou Art Here Theatre, Edmonton’s only site-sympathetic Shakespeare company. She has co-created and performed in many of TAH’s shows and is excited for the upcoming season. Visit www.thouartheretheatre.com for more information.

Marilyn Dumont teaches for the faculties of Arts and Native Studies at the University of Alberta and is proud of Metis family lines from her Mother’s – Vaness / Dufresne families and her father’s – Boudreau/Dumont families. Her four collections of poetry have won provincial or national awards: A Really Good Brown Girl (1996); green girl dreams Mountains (2001); that tongued belonging (2007); The Pemmican Eaters (2015). A fifth collection surrounding Indigenous history of Edmonton, called South Side of a Kinless River will be published by Brick Books in 2024.

Christine Falk has had a love for written words and a great appreciation for story telling through poetry, books, music, and art for most of her life. Her hobbies include enjoying music, local culture, and reading. Christine is a member of the Writer’s Guild of Alberta and The Edmonton Stroll of Poets currently working at expanding her poetry library as well as promoting of her first novel “Unremarkable In Light”. She is currently working on her second novel. Christine’s greatest literary influences include Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, Leonard Cohen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Pablo Neruda, and Charles M Schultz.

Ian Ferrier is an internationally known poet, musician and performer who has released two CDs and a CD/book, founded a festival, and started an online magazine and a record label. A recipient of multiple arts awards, he currently tours the country with his spoken word and dance collaboration For Body and Light (http://forbodyandlight.org).

Fran Figge’s life-long love of poetry came into pleasurable focus several years ago when she discovered her own writing muse. She is currently president of The Ontario Poetry Society, president of Tower Poetry Society in Hamilton and a member of the Canadian Authors Association where she has the privilege of reading and work-shopping with many other experienced and aspiring poets. Fran has a chapbook entitled hope and despair in the ark; Encompass II features her work with that of four other poets.

Kathy Figueroa takes great delight in writing poems that have entertained newspaper and magazine readers in Ontario for many years. She’s had three books published: Paudash Poems, Flowertopia, and The Cathedral of the Eternal Blue Sky, and her work appears in numerous anthologies, as well as on many poetry blogs and websites. She enjoys organizing events, like The Word Is Wild Literary Festival (held in June, 2014), and frequently reads her work to local audiences.

Montreal-born, Edmonton-based poet Kathy Fisher has been performing her words for international audiences for over three decades. Her passion is marrying sonic elements in poetry with improvisational music or ‘found sound’ – be they recordings of northern lights, tracks from her oral history sound library, or arias from rediscovered opera divas. She recently served as mentor in the Writer’s Guild of Alberta Borderlines program and is currently excavating and re-writing her LL.M. thesis as creative non-fiction.

Gary Garrison is an Okie from Muskogee who let his hair grow long, came to Canada, and raised three children instead of killing people in Vietnam. He has been the Editor of Alberta Hansard, coordinator of volunteer prison visitors at “the Max”, and an active member of Edmonton’s writing community. For fun, Gary writes poems with and for patients and visitors at the U of A hospital. He writes and performs songs and plays the guitar, harmonica, flute, and didgeridoo. His third nonfiction book, Human on the Inside: Unlocking the Truth of Canada’s Prisons, was published this February by the University of Regina Press.

As the daughter of an artist and a journalist, Kasia is drawn to the symbiotic relationship between words and images, and enjoys mixing poetry with visual art, collage, and photographs. Her work is confessional in nature and draws on her experiences of sex, love, heartbreak, loss, grief, anger, and human relationships.

Kasia’s poetry practice dates back to her high school years. She discovered an interest in creative writing performance during her time as a student at the University of Alberta, where she majored in English Lit. She was a contributor to Fait Accomplit, the Comparative Literature Students Association magazine, and was also active in their poetry slam nights. After graduating from U of A, Kasia pursued a career in marketing communications and website development. Kasia renewed her interest in Edmonton’s creative writing scene when she and Jason Lee Norman founded the Words with Friends (aka yegwords) creative writing collective in the summer of 2011. She released her self-published retrospective poetry collection, the mourning after, in October of the same year.

Gary Geddes has written and edited 45 books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, criticism, translation and anthologies and won a dozen national and international literary awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region), the Lt.-Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and the Gabriela Mistral Prize from Chile. His most recent books of poems are Swimming Ginger (Goose Lane) and What Does A House Want? (Red Hen Press).

Sue Goyette lives in Halifax and has published four books of poems, The True Names of Birds, Undone, outskirts (Brick Books), and Ocean (Gaspereau Press) as well as a novel, Lures (HarperCollins, 2002). Her next collection, The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl, is forthcoming from Gaspereau Press. She’s been nominated for several awards including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Gerald Lampert, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, the Dartmouth Book Award, the Acorn-Plantos Award and, most recently, the 2014 Griffin Poetry Prize. She won the 2008 CBC Literary Prize for Poetry, the 2010 Earle Birney Prize, the 2011 Bliss Carman Award, the 2012 Pat Lowther Award, the 2012 Atlantic Poetry Prize, Silver in the 2013 National Magazine Awards and the 2014 Nova Scotia Booksellers Choice Award. Her poetry has appeared on the Toronto subway system, in wedding vows and spray-painted on a sidewalk somewhere in St. John, New Brunswick. Sue currently teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Dalhousie University.

Catherine Graham is an award-winning creative-writing instructor at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Winner of the IFOA’s Poetry NOW competition, her most recent collection, Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects, was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Poetry Award and the CAA Poetry Award. Her work is anthologized in The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol IV & V and The White Page / An Bhileog Bhan: Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets and has appeared or is forthcoming in such journals as The Fiddlehead, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Humber Literary Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Prairie Fire and The Malahat Review. Visit: www.catherinegraham.com

“Graham’s poems are sparely worded but full of evocative images that vividly convey a wide range of emotion, from passion to grief.” — CBC Books

Michael Gravel is a poet, writer, emcee, publisher, and tea afficionado. He believes that art, design, and poetry strive for the same ideal: to say the most with the least. His poetry chapbooks include The Fast Places (2008), Corduroy Forecast (2010), and We Need You (2014). He designs and publishes books at The Rasp and the Wine. He was the frontman of the Raving Poets from 2003 – 2010. His other skills include poetic performance, event emceeing, lecturing, and teaching. His poetic influences include Carl Sagan, Jack Kerouac, and Dylan Thomas. When not digesting the day’s codswallop, he can be found writing & reading, drinking tea, and walking.

Leif Gregersen grew up in St.Albert and left at the age of 18 to pursue a dream of attending flying school and traveling. On his return he wrote his life story and began writing poetry. He has lived in Edmonton for 23 years and has written three books of poetry, two memoirs and three short story collections. He feels a strong connection to the North and, aside from the odd trip to Hawaii never wants to leave Edmonton again. In 2014 Leif was voted as one of the top 11 ‘Writers to Watch’ on the CBC Canada Writes Website.

Marina Reid Hale can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up (save for a week in grade two when she wanted to be a dolphin). An Edmonton spoken word writer, performer, and educator, Marina spends her time competing in poetry slams, leading writing workshops, and working at the family wig shop. She has represented Edmonton in two national poetry competitions; created a one-woman spoken word poetry show, Monster Girl, for NextFest 2015; was a part of the initial #yegwords coffee sleeve project; and is the creator of the Giant Fridge Magnet Poetry art installation. In 2017, Marina released her first poetry chapbook, These Are Not Love Poems, with Glass Buffalo. Officially a writer now, she is still trying to work on the growing up part.

Debbie Okun Hill is a Canadian poet, blogger and freelance writer. She is a past president of The Ontario Poetry Society. Tarnished Trophies (Black Moss Press, 2014) is her first trade book.

As an aspiring writer, Kelsey Knight is an experience chaser. She is motivated in her search for moments to accumulate and create a meaningful life. Her main focus and interests are in poetry, art and photography.

Melissa Morelli Lacroix is a writer, teacher, and editor who lives and works in Edmonton. She has degrees in creative writing from Lancaster University and the University of Alberta as well as a certificate in Translation Studies. Melissa teaches piano and writing.

“Rebecca Lappa is her name and extremely classy folk, singer-songwriter, jazzy art pop is the nature of her game” (Urban Wally Wallstrom, UnitedRock.com). Her strong, beautiful voice and artful playing draw listeners into stories about history, myth, and poetry. As a 4x Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee, not only has Rebecca “written a lot of songs – she’s written a lot of good songs” (Kevin Maimann, Edmonton Examiner). This multi-instrumentalist won the CN Youth Artist Award at the 2014 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, was a top 6 finalist in the 2012 All Albertan Songwriting Contest, and won first place (2013) and third place (2014) in the Sonic Youth Category at the Calgary Folkfest Songwriting Contest. She has performed at the Edmonton Folkfest, Canmore Folkfest, Winnipeg Folkfest, Calgary Folkfest, St. John CFMA Nominee showcase, Calgary CFMA Nominee showcase, and as the “Young Albertan” for the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta 2013 Showcase. From acoustic sets to rocking it on the main stage, Rebecca performs with confidence, plucking the audience’s heartstrings or tickling their funny bone. In June, Rebecca released her 4th full-length album Ode to Tennyson, produced by award winner Barry Allen and funded by a Rawlco Radio 10K20 grant. Her music has been played on radio across Canada and charted on Canadian College stations.

« Femme franco-albertaine, née sous le signe du Verseau. Native de Rivière-la-Paix où les plaines m’ont appris à regarder loin, à dévier comme le vent et à poursuivre « la voie » semblant inaccessible, de cet horizon qui m’appelle. Enseignante de profession, mère, artiste multidisciplinaire avec un esprit philosophique qui écrit sur mon parcours et tire mon inspiration de la vie. Mes textes viennent du cœur et traitent de sujets universels. Et tout comme le vent des plaines, j’aime pénétrer dans les coins, faire soulever la poussière, faire fléchir les idées, faire bercer la créativité, faire germer la réflexion et faire éveiller les émotions qui somnolent. Je travaille présentement à publier moi-même des livres pour enfants que j’ai écrits et illustrés. »

–

Born under the sign of the Aquarius and the prairie skies of the Peace River region, this franco-albertan woman has learned to look far into the distances and wander with the prairie wind… and to reach for the seemingly unattainable horizon that calls out to her. Teacher by trade, mother and artist at heart, she writes with a philosophical spirit on universal and personal experiences. And like the prairie wind, she subtly unearths dormant emotions, gently ignites creative reflection, stirs dust and sways ideas. She tries to waltz with the inspirational breezes that float by. She is presently working on self-publishing french children’s books that she has written and illustrated.

A seasoned bilingual actress, director, and coach as well as a Spoken Word Poet and past Edmonton Slam Champion, this season Giselle initiated Poetry Strip Tease…Poets Go Paperless, a Workshop Series on memorization and performance. Through this effort, Giselle hopes to see more and more passionate paperless poetry performances springing up throughout the city for all kinds of events.

John Leppard is an active member of the Edmonton poetry scene, performing his unique style of spoken word in a variety of venues. A respected leader in the poetry community, John brings abundant experience and skill to the role of performance facilitator.

Joanna Lilley is the author of the poetry collection, The Fleece Era, published by Brick Books in 2014 and the short fiction collection, The Birthday Books, being published in 2015 by Hagios Press in their Strike Fire New Author Series. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies in Canada, the US and the UK. Her poetry has received first prize in the Vancouver International Writers Festival Contest, second prize in the WH Drummond Poetry Contest and third prize in The Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest. Joanna has a Master of Letters degree in Creative Writing from the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde and she has received two Advanced Artist Awards from the Government of Yukon. Joanna moved to Canada from the UK in 2006, fifteen years after cycling alone from Nova Scotia to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. She lives with her husband in Whitehorse, Yukon. Find out more at www.joannalilley.com.

Joanna’s travel to Edmonton was generously funded by the Government of Yukon’s Touring Artist Fund.

Mandie Lopatka is a longtime friend of the Edmonton Poetry community. She is a proposal writer/manager, loft hostess, creator of heavy-hearted poems and bright messy paintings. Mandie loves the arts and gardening is her greatest joy.

Laurie MacFayden is an award-winning writer, visual artist and former journalist who has lived in Edmonton since 1984. Her latest poetry collection, Walking Through Turquoise, explores love, desire, and other intimacies mined in her first two titles, White Shirt and Kissing Keeps Us Afloat. Her writing has appeared in The New Quarterly, FreeFall, Queering the Way and Alberta Views.

Hollow-bodied electric guitar in hand, Ariane Mahrÿke delivers her songs with humour, candor, vulnerability and strength. She flirts with folk, jazz, blues, and electroacoustics while effortlessly moving from French to English. Lemire perfectly reflects the diversity of Canadian culture. She offers dynamic performances and takes her listeners through expansive musical journeys sewn together by witty banter. Through her participation in remarkable experiences like the Festival en chanson de Petite Vallée in Gaspésie, the Coup de coeur francophone in Montreal, the Rencontres d’Astaffort in France and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, she has become a seasoned musician. Her first album, Double Entendre, was crowned Outstanding Francophone Recording at the 2008 WCMAs, her second was nominated in the same category in 2010, and her third album, Wrecked Tangles and Love Knots, was released in the fall of 2012.

Blaine Marchand’s award winning poetry and prose has appeared in magazines across Canada and in the US. The author of eight books, he is currently working on two manuscripts of poetry as well as a collection of short stories, Nomads.

Garth Martens won the 2011 Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. His first book, Prologue for the Age of Consequence, was a Finalist for the 2014 Governor General’s Award in Poetry. For nine years he has worked in large-scale commercial construction. His poems have appeared in publications like Best Canadian Poetry in English 2014, Poetry Ireland Review, Hazlitt, This Magazine, Fiddlehead, and Prism. Last spring, he wrote and performed the libretto for Pasajes, an international flamenco production. You can find him on Twitter at @GarthMartens.

Colin Matty is a writer and performer from Edmonton AB. In 2011 he was a part of the championship team at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. He has toured the country with his poetry numerous times, most recently to the Victoria Spoken Word Festival as a member of the All-Star Ensemble. Colin runs Edmonton’s much talked of Poem Shop out of his typewriter, spreading fine verse the the people of our fair city. Colin is also the Director of WordsWorth, a creative writing residency for youth under the Writers Guild of Alberta, and performs regularly with Rapid Fire Theatre, Edmonton’s longest running improv theatre company.

Kaz Mega is a POEMcee, community builder and musician. He is Co-Director of Hip Hop in the Park and was Cap’n of the 2013 & 2014 YEG National Slam Team.

Jérôme Melançon habite Camrose avec son épouse, ses deux enfants et son chat. Il y est arrivé par la Saskatchewan, la France, l’Ontario, le Québec, et le Nouveau-Brunswick. Il enseigne la philosophie, la politique canadienne, autochtone, et chinoise, ainsi que, parfois, la sociologie et la création littéraire, au campus Augustana de l’Université de l’Alberta. Il est l’auteur de deux recueils de poésie, De perdre tes pas (2011) et Quelques pas quelque part (tous deux aux éditions des Plaines), de nombreux brouillons, et d’un projet de poésie bilingue semi-continuel sur Twitter. Il a aussi publié des articles académiques sur la démocratie, la dissidence, et l’anticolonialisme; sur le rôle des intellectuels et sur la culture; sur la musique de Radiohead, Pink Floyd, et Tarmac; et sur la littérature.

Jérôme Melançon lives in Camrose with his wife, their two children and their cat. He arrived there through Saskatchewan, France, Ontario, Québec, and New-Brunswick. He teaches philosophy, as well as Canadian, Indigenous, and Chiense politics, and sometimes even sociology and creative writing, at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. He is the author of two books of poetry, De perdre tes pas (2011) and Quelques pas quelque part (both with Éditions des Plaines), many drafts, and a semi-continuous bilingual poetry project on Twitter. He has also published academic articles on democracy, dissent, and anticolonialism; on the role of intellectuals and on culture; on the music of Radiohead, Pink Floyd, and Tarmac; and on literature.

Marco Melfi joined the Edmonton Poetry Festival Board in 2019. His poems have appeared in The Antigonish Review, The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, The Arc Award of Awesomeness, Funicular, and FreeFall. His chapbook, In between trains, was published in 2014.

Peter Midgley is the author of several books of poetry, children’s literature, and plays. He lives in Edmonton.

For more info check out their website:
https://www.midgley.ca/

Kathryn Mockler is a writer, poet, and screenwriter. She is the author of the poetry books The Purpose Pitch (Mansfield Press, “a stuart ross book,” Spring 2015), The Saddest Place on Earth (DC Books, 2012), and Onion Man (Tightrope Books, 2011). Her writing has been published in Found Press, Geist, This Magazine, and Vol. 1 Brooklyn. Currently, she is the Toronto editor of Joyland: A Hub for Short Fiction and the publisher of the online literary and arts journal The Rusty Toque. She teaches creative writing at Western University.

Helen Moffett is a South African poet, freelance editor, feminist activist and academic. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town, and was the President’s Fellow at Princeton University. She has lectured as far afield as Trinidad and Alaska, but still calls Cape Town home. She has compiled three editions of a poetry anthology for Southern African students, a guide to academic English for students, and a collection of South African landscape writings, Lovely Beyond Any Singing.

While writing materials for Rape Crisis Cape Town and Womankind UK, she also co-wrote a cricket book with the late Bob Woolmer and the sports scientist Tim Noakes – partly because the game of cricket reminds her of why she likes men. She has also published short stories and numerous academic pieces, and co-writes the popular Girl Walks In erotica series with Sarah Lotz and Paige Nick under the non de plume Helena S. Paige.

Strange Fruit, published by Modjaji Books, is her first poetry collection. She is currently working on her second collection of poems, as well as a volume of short stories. She dances flamenco (badly, but with enthusiasm) and loves gardening under the supervision of her cats.

She blogs at http://helenmoffett.bookslive.co.za/blog/

Kerry Mulholland lives in Edmonton, Alberta with her husband, poet Michael Gravel, and her daughter. She is the author of the chapbooks The Other Side of Silver (2010) and Ice From Elsewhere (2014). Her poems have been broadcast on radio, featured on Raving Poets CDs, and have appeared in many anthologies, literary journals and magazines. She was winner of the Edmonton Journal’s 2006 poetry contest and the 2007 CBC Poetry Face-off. Kerry has lived on the prairies, always.

Jason Lee Norman writes short fiction, edits Funicular Magazine, and published Monto Books. He lives in Edmonton.

Andy Northrup is a singer/songwriter who has also written and acted for the stage and screen. He has recorded three critically acclaimed CDs, Slow Burn Avenue, Cardboard Logic and Making My Way and was the US Stonewall Society’s 2005 Musical Artist of the Year. As an award winning stage actor, Andy has performed widely, including the Edmonton and Winnipeg Fringe Festivals. He is the 2008 winner of the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes award for Male Performance at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. In addition, Andy has been featured in films and commercials. In addition, he has written script and storylines for film/stage and four musicals. A new initiative in Andy’s career is writing text for Allan Gilliland’s Blessed, a classical choral work commissioned by Pro Coro Canada and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Read more at andynorthrup.com.

Ikenna Onyegbula a.k.a OpenSecret is a writer, arts educator and spoken word performance poet of Nigerian descent currently residing in Ottawa, Ontario.

In the seven years he has been performing, he has toured all across Canada, the United States and in Europe, featuring in many high-profile shows and festivals, like Hullabaloo, The Calgary Spoken Word Festival, Verses Festival of Words, Vancouver Island Music Festival, South Country Fair and North Country Fair. As a member of the nationally-acclaimed four-member spoken word troupe, The Recipe, Ikenna further honed his craft, opening for such acts as K-OS, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and alongside 2-time Grammy winning Hip-Hop recording group Arrested Development. His work focuses on utilizing performance to get into the crux of varying life circumstances in order to challenge audiences to engage critically through a vast spectrum of emotions.

As an arts educator, Ikenna has facilitated countless spoken word workshops across Canada for youth and adult poets alike. His work as the founder and artistic director of Canada’s National Youth Spoken Word Poetry Festival, YOUTHCANSLAM, in particular, has enabled him to directly impact the lives of many of the country’s budding youth poet voices by providing a national platform upon which they may share their stories and ideas and also have the opportunity to be mentored by some of the country’s most successful and well-established poets.

As a writer, Ikenna has written hundreds of poems and has been featured in two national anthologies: Letters to a Future Church: Words of Encouragement and Prophetic Appeals (2011) and The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry (2013).

Major Awards and Honours:

• 2014 World Poetry Slam Champion
  * 2014 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word Poet of Honour
  * Founder and Artistic Director of Canada’s National Youth Poetry Festival, YouthCanSlam (2013- Present)
• 2013 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion
  * 2012 Ottawa Capital Poetry Slam Grand Slam Champion
  * 2012 World Poetry Slam Finalist: 4th place
  * 2011 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion
  * Two time Canadian National Poetry Slam Team Champion, with Team Ottawa (2009, 2010)
  * Three time Canadian National Poetry Slam Team Finalist, with Team Ottawa (2008, 2009, and 2010)
• Three time Ottawa Poetry Slam Team member (2008, 2009, and 2010)

Taqralik Partridge is a writer, performance poet and Inuit throatsinger originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik – Northern Quebec. Her spoken word has been featured on CBC radio, and she has performed at numerous venues in Canada and abroad  As an Inuit throat-singer, she has toured with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and performed with ensemble Gabriel Thibaudeau to accompany silent films in Belgium and Luxembourg. Her short story, Igloolik won the Quebec Writing Competition and has recently been published in French-language and Swedish anthologies.

Don Perkins teaches in the Department of English and Film Studies at the U. of A. Recent poems have appeared in 40 Below, The Trumpeter, and in The Poetry Route.

Well I’m from New Orleans, I’ve been living in Canada for 26 years… I AM a proud father of four! Like Rumi, Hafiz, La La ded and many other mystical poets I AM a Lover supreme! For I Love all, I Love Life in all it’s glorious infinite expression! I AM also a musician,songwriter and author. In a Word I AM always flowing growing and glowing in Love!

Mary Pinkoski, 5th Poet Laureate of the City of Edmonton (2013-2015), is an internationally recognized poet. She has performed on stages across North American and at the 2015 Winter Lights Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland. Her work has appeared in multiple anthologies. She is the 2011 Canadian National Spoken Word Champion and a winner of the 2008 CBC National Poetry Face-off. In 2015, Mary was recognized as an Edmonton Top 40 Under 40 and also awarded a University of Alberta Alumni Horizon Award for her poetry work in the Edmonton community, in particular for facilitating youth poetry workshops and her creation of the City of Edmonton’s Youth Poet Laureate role which she continues to coordinate in partnership with the City of Edmonton Youth Council.

Originaire du quartier Saint-Sauveur dans la basse-ville de Québec, Michel Pleau a publié une quinzaine de livres. Il a reçu le Prix Octave-Crémazie ainsi que les Prix Alphonse-Piché et Félix-Antoine-Savard du Festival international de la poésie de Trois-Rivières. En 2008, son recueil La lenteur du monde se mérite le Prix du Gouverneur général en poésie. Ce livre a été traduit en anglais sous le titre Eternity taking its time chez Bookland Press (Toronto) en 2012.

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Michel Pleau has devoted his life to literature, and is Canada’s current Parliamentary Poet Laureate. The recipient of many awards, this poet gives lectures, takes part in public readings, leads creative writing workshops, mentors young poets in their writing process and contributes to several reviews, including Possibles and Art Le Sabord. Michel Pleau is literally present in the Quebec landscape as well: an island in the Caniapiscau reservoir in the north of Quebec bears the name of his collection, La traversée de la nuit. Winner of the 2007 Résidence d’écriture Québec-Paris, he won the first Governor General’s Award in 2008 for La lenteur du monde published by Les Éditions David.

David Prodan is a community development specialist for the non-profit agency E4C in Edmonton’s McCauley neighbourhood. His work includes local activism, food security, event production, mental health services, free arts and writing workshops, free wellness and recreation programs, affordable housing, and revitalization in older neighbourhoods. His volunteer efforts include free arts programming for the indie Heart of the City music festival and DJing for community events.

DC Reid is a past President of the League of Canadian Poets and has published 11 books of prose, non-fiction and poetry. His current book of poems, You Shall Have No Other, is being made into web-based poem-movies that may be accessed and downloaded at www.sandria.ca.

Pierrette Requier is a multi-faceted bilingual writer and translator. She is the recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal 2022. Her recent triple publication—a translation / adaptation of details from the edge of the village, into French, entitled Petites nouvelles du Last Best West is available in book form, as an e-book, and audiobook. A collaboration between two western Canada publishing houses, Les Éditions de la nouvelle plume, Regina Saskatchewan and Frontenac House, Okotoks, Alberta.

D’origine acadienne et Franco-albertaine d’adoption, Carole Saint-Cyr est heureuse de partager avec le public d’ici des extraits d’œuvres choisis parmi les meilleurs poètes acadiens. Trois fois lauréate du Gala de la chanson et de la poésie de Caraquet au Nouveau-Brunswick dans ses jeunes années, Carole a souvent prêté sa voix aux auteurs d’Acadie lors de divers événements. Elle a aussi animé quelques soirées de poésie, dont celles du Salon du livre d’Edmundston.

En Acadie, on l’a vu jouer dans plusieurs productions en tournée dans les Maritimes avec le Théâtre populaire d’Acadie. Elle a été journaliste culturelle et animatrice à la radio et télévision de Radio-Canada Atlantique, TV5, Radio-Péninsule et CJVA au N.-B., Radio-Canada Saskatchewan et Alberta, et animatrice de plusieurs galas et concerts.

Installée à Sherwood Park depuis dix ans, Carole a travaillé pendant quelques années au Regroupement artistique francophone de l’Alberta avant d’offrir des services de consultante en communication. Puis, en novembre dernier, elle fait un retour au théâtre après une vingtaine d’années d’absence sur les planches dans une production de L’UniThéâtre.

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Acadian by origin, Franco-albertaine by adoption, Carole Saint-Cyr is pleased to share poem excerpts chosen from the best Acadian Poets. A three time winner of Caraquet’s (New Brunswick) “Gala de la chanson et de la poésie” in her youth, she has lended her voice to Acadian Authors at several events as well as hosting poetry evenings.

As an actress, she has played in several plays that toured the Maritimes with the “Théâtre populaire d’Acadie”. She has been a cultural journalist and radio and television host with Radio-Canada (CBC) Atlantic, TV5, Radio-Péninsule and CJVA in New Brunswick as well as Radio-Canada in Saskatchewan and Alberta. She has been the host of several galas and concerts.

She has been living in Sherwood Park for 10 years and has worked for the “Regroupement artistique francophone de l’Alberta” before becoming a communications consultant. Last November, she went back to theatre as an actress in a production of L’UniThéâtre.

Artiste français multi-disciplinaire , naviguant entre écriture , jeu , mise en scène et musique. Il enseigne aussi le jeu et l’ écriture scénique au Campus Saint Jean-Université de l’ Alberta. Il a publié une pièce aux éditions françaises Les Cygnes, Dalia une Odyssée et s’ apprête à publier un recueil de nouvelles Il y a une vie avant la mort. En musique ,il a sorti l’ album Transports en 2011 et prépare le deuxième Rêveur éveillé pour l’ automne 2016.

French-born Bernard Salva is an actor, director, playwright, teacher and song-writer. He sketches a soulful journey of deeply personal songs and poems of love and loss around the world. His play Dalia une Odyssée has been published in 2014 in France and his album Transports in 2011 in France and Canada.

Paul Sanderson resides in Toronto and is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets. His poetry has been published in “The Tower,” “Zygote” and “The White Wall Review” poetry journals. His first chapbook, Biological Seasons, was published in 1996. His first full length book of poetry Learning Curves was published by Seraphim Editions in 2003. His second chapbook, The Golden Thumb & Acirema was published in 2010.

Shirley A. Serviss was a founding board member of the Edmonton Poetry Festival and is a long-time member of the Stroll of Poets. She has published three collections of poetry and works part-time as the staff literary Artist on the Wards for the Friends of University Hospitals. Her poetry, articles and personal essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies.

Kelly Shepherd’s second poetry collection, Insomnia Bird (Thistledown Press, 2018) won the 2019 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. Kelly has written seven chapbooks, and he is a poetry editor for the environmental philosophy journal The Trumpeter. He has a Creative Writing MFA from UBC Okanagan (with a thesis on the intersections of ecopoetry and work poetry), and an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Alberta (with a thesis on sacred geography). Originally from Smithers BC, Kelly currently lives in Edmonton, and teaches at NAIT.

Lorrie is a spiritual life consultant, equity advisor, educator, soul worker and poet with 25 years of experience. She has worked in community, academic and esoteric settings. She connects and writes through intuitive insight and truth telling from multiple perspectives. She expresses the intersection of emotion, experience and consciousness. She reflects upon layered, intersectional human parting and connecting as a rich spiraling tapestry of life journeying peaks, valleys, desserts and oceans of simultaneous pregnant possibilities.

Morgan Smith is an Edmonton-based theatre artist and poet. She’s the founder of The Edmonton Poetry Brothel, an immersive performance-poetry collective. She’s previously performed at the Edmonton Poetry Festival in collaborative performance “Poetry Moves.” As an actor, you may have seen her in “Tudor Queens: A Burlesque” and “Shakespeare’s Sirens” for Send in the Girls Burlesque, and in “The Runcible Riddle” and “Dead Centre of Town” for Catch the Keys Productions. During the day, she reads the news for iNews880 and 630CHED.

Josée est autrice, metteuse en scène et comédienne. Basée à Edmonton depuis 25 ans, elle écrit pour le théâtre, le cinéma, la télé, la radio et les podcasts, et pour le collectif d’humour Le RiRe. Depuis quelques années, elle développe de nouvelles voix narratives grâce à ses nombreux alter ego (La petite Lulu, Old Lu, Djozy, Ann Jo) avec lesquels elle livre sur scène de la poésie spoken word, des monologues et des chansons. Josée vient tout juste de présenter son nouveau spectacle solo, La fille du facteur, sur la scène de l’UniThéâtre. Dans un univers où l’humour est poétique et la prose polémique, Josée tire la langue aux conventions en faisant exploser sa langue maternelle. Elle a le courage de donner sa langue au chat, mais, jamais, elle n’a la langue dans sa poche.

Josée writes, performs and directs. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, she writes for theatre, film, tv, radio and podcasts, as well as for the comedy troupe Le RiRe. In the last decade, she has developed new narrative voices with her many alter egos (La petite Lulu, Old Lu, Djozy, Ann Jo) creating and performing spoken word poetry, monologues and songs. Her new show, La fille du facteur, was presented at L’UniThéâtre in March 2019. Just like La petite Lulu tire la langue, Josée always sticks her tongue out, creating a tongue-in-cheek world where the French language plays tongue twisting games with l’anglais.

Jocelyne Verret is a long-time member of the Stroll of Poets and a past President. She is a published poet, novelist, dramaturge, and essayist. The Works Art and Design Festival of 2017 featured twelve of her poems (French and English) with accompanying artwork by visual artist Father Douglas.

Jocelyne Verret est un membre de longue date de la Stroll of Poets d’Edmonton et une ancienne présidente. Plusieurs oeuvres de cette poétesse, romancière, dramaturge et essayiste ont été publiées. The Works Art and Design Festival de 2017 a présenté douze de ses poèmes (en français et en anglais) avec les toiles accompagnatrices réalisées par le peintre Father Douglas.

Gisèle Villeneuve is a Calgary-based bilingual writer working in multiple genres. As a novelist, short story writer, poet, and translator, she delights in alternating freely between French and English. Rising Abruptly, a collection of stories in English that are a distillation of her mountain experiences, won the Fiction & Poetry Award at the international Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and the Alberta Book Publishing Awards, Trade Fiction category. Her other works include the bilingual novel Visiting Elizabeth; a writer’s notebook in French, nue et crue lettre au poète disparu, in which poetry, prose, fiction and non-fiction share the page; and Outsiders, a collection of stories in French. Gisèle has also worked as voice coach, narrator, editor, radio journalist and documentarian, scriptwriter, TV researcher, magazine writer and playwright. Originally from Montréal, she has resided in England and the United States and has travelled five continents. When not at her desk, she can be found roaming the Rockies.

Auteure bilingue de Calgary, Gisèle Villeneuve pratique plusieurs genres littéraires. Romancière, nouvellière, poète et traductrice, elle prend grand plaisir à passer librement du français à l’anglais. Ses œuvres les plus récentes incluent Rising Abruptly, un recueil de nouvelles en anglais couronné de plusieurs prix et dont les textes s’appuient sur son expérience en montagne; nue et crue lettre au poète disparu, un carnet d’écrivain dans lequel la prose et la poésie, la fiction et l’essai partagent la page; Outsiders, un recueil de nouvelles en français; et Visiting Elizabeth, un roman bi-langue. Gisèle fut également coach de voix, narratrice, rédactrice, journaliste et documentariste de radio, scénariste, recherchiste et dramaturge. Originaire de Montréal, elle a habité en Angleterre et aux Etats-Unis et elle a voyagé sur cinq continents. Entre ses travaux d’écriture, elle va souvent prendre l’air dans les Rocheuses.

Edin Viso was born in Croatia. He emigrated to Canada 2004. His prose and poetry has published in numerous magazines in Canada, Italy, France. Span, Sweden, Malta and the former Yugoslavia. Edin published two books of prose and poetry in English: BALKAN TATTOO and QUATRO STADGIONI. Recently working on new book NAKED. In 2011 he founded the literary publishing house REC. FACTORY.

Edin is a poet and writer, a great supporter of the Arts and survivor of the Balkan wars in the 1990.
He has rededicated his life in many ways since coming to Canada, as a philanthropist and as an artist
publishing gut- wrenching, profane, beautiful and genuinely funny insight into life and what it means to be a human. Preoccupied and concerned about pollution, the way we are destroying our planet, global warming, the rise of terrorism, escalating fascism, and preparing a terrible future for next generation.

Amy Willans’ poetry has been published in Standing Together: Women Speak Out about Violence and Abuse (Brindle and Glass, 2005); Transition magazine, published by the Canadian Mental Health Association; and in various journals and anthologies. Her spoken word poetry is featured on The Raving Poets’ CDs Mumbo Jumbo, Pig Poetry and The Raving Poets Remixed. Willans received an honourable mention in the Edmonton Voices Literary Competition in 2011, and was a presenter at MacEwan University’s undergraduate conference, Reading Identity: Inside/Out in 2013. In 2013, she partnered with visual artist Laurie MacFayden in a mixed-media installation entitled Fighting Normal, which explores the stigma that confronts anyone who does not present as ‘normal’ in society. Willans was recently selected as a participant in The Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate program, at the University of Iowa. Willans lives in Edmonton, Alberta and is a Sociology Criminology student at MacEwan University. She is also a public speaker on issues of mental health and recovery. Her first chapbook, Haunted by Blue was published in 2014 by The Rasp and the Wine.

Internationally known Spoken Word Artist Sheri-D Wilson has 9 collections of poetry – most recently – Open Letter: Woman against Violence against Women, following Goddess Gone Fishing for a Map of the Universe – 5 plays, 2 CDs, 4 Video-Poems, & 1 ballet for Ballet BC. She also edited the celebrated, The Spoken Word Workbook: inspiration from poets who teach.

Recipient of: 2013 CBC Top 10 Poets in Canada · 2006 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry · 2005 SpoCan Poet of Honour · People’s Choice · 2006 Woman of Vision · 5 Rosies · 2003 USA Heavyweight Title · 5 Jessie Nominations · Ace Award · Nominated The Canadian Author Who Would Make The Best LOVER!

Featured in Chatelaine Magazine, a regular on CBC, a Ted-Talk, and the subject of a half-hour documentary Heart of a Poet, et cetera. Of the beat tradition, in 1989 she studied at Naropa University (Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics).

Artistic Director—The Calgary Spoken Word Festival (2003-present)
Founder & Director—Spoken Word Program @ Banff Centre (2005-2012)
www.sheridwilson.com
www.calgaryspokenwordfestival.com

Beauty, colour and expression can make a profound impact. Over the years, this pursuit has taken on a variety of forms for Lori, including several large community development projects. She has used the arts both clinically and educationally very successfully in a variety of settings, releasing and facilitating others’ creative processes.

In the past few years, Lori has released herself to pursue beauty and its effects full time. Working primarily in acrylic, her abstract work is characterized by dynamic bursts of colour. Recently she has created a unique line of hand painted wearable art in luxurious silk — Divine Graffiti, and Artstream, an hub of creative pursuits, the first of it’s kind.

Ella Zeltserman is a Soviet-born Edmonton poet. Her first book of poetry small things left behind was published by University of Alberta Press in 2014 and won BPAA Robert Kroetsch prize and Betty Averbach prize. Her next book The Air Is Elastic is published by Turnstone Press in the spring 2018.