The Festival’s Grain Part 1 | Edmonton Poetry Festival

We get it. Your Caramel Macchiato habit is getting out of control. Every little price bump ($5.10 at last reckoning) inspires a silent vow to stop the madness and switch to Earl Grey. But who does that in March? With Roll Up The Rim season still going strong, perhaps a dose of apostasy is in order. You’re not that fickle. You like your coffee as you like your ghazals and sonnets: Tight.

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In case you missed it, we announced our schedule and author lineup last week. The whole gig starts on Sunday April 19. We did something a bit different to kick off the festival this year. We offered five “BYOV” spots to our community and took event proposals. We ended up with a great opening day with a string of events from 10am to 9pm. Here’s a quick peek at what you can do on Sunday April 19:

Haiku in the Japanese Garden. This one’s a paid workshop featuring haiku master Patrick Pilarski. Polish up your 5-7-5 at this event, presented in collaboration with our friends at the Devonian Botanic Garden.
High Noon begins at noon and presents seven local artists at the amazing McMullen Gallery at the U of A Hospital.
A Most Beautiful Deception presents the poetry of Melissa Morelli Lacroix set to the music of Debussy, Chopin and Schumann performed by the Deceptive Cadence Players.
Edmonton / BC poet Kelly Shepherd presents the intriguing The First Metaphor, a collection of poems by Kelly and woodcuts by BC artist Alison Kubbos.
To round out the day, Gettin Gritty Inner City presents poems of the inner city…and there is still time to submit your poem for inclusion in the event!

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday, amirite? We dearly hope you enjoy this year’s festival and encourage you to take in a Sunday event – support our local wordsmiths and the work they do to keep the art of poetry alive in Edmonton.

One more thing: there’s a small press in BC called The Lake Journal and they’re taking submissions for their latest chapbook contest. The deadline is this Friday, March 13. If you’ve got a bank of poems ready to go, consider submitting. You’ll get a fine-press chapbook out of the deal (provided you win, of course). Check out Lake Journal here.