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Poet Laureates
About the Program
2019/20: Margaret Michèle Cook
2019/20: Deanna Young
2017/18: Andrée Lacelle
2017/18: Jamaal Jackson Rogers
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November 6 – 22, 2020
Poets
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A.F. Moritz
A.F. Moritz has published his twentieth collection of poems,
As Far As You Know
(Anansi, 2020).
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Adèle Barclay
Vancouver poet Adèle Barclay's second collection is
Renaissance Normcore
from Nightwood.
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Albert Dumont
Spiritual Advisor of Algonquin, of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, Albert Dumont has 6 collections of poetry.
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Andrée Christensen
Andrée Christensen has published over twenty-five works in poetry, novel and literary translation.
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Andre Fenton
Andre Fenton represented Halifax at 7 national poetry slams across Canada.
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Angye Gaona
Colombian poet Angye Goana was imprisoned for her work defending Indigenous people. Her poems find satori in catastrophe.
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Anne-Marie Desmeules
Desmeules’ collections have garnered many awards, including the GG’s Award and the Prix de poésie de Radio-Canada.
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Annick MacAskill
Annick MacAskill's
Murmurations
is a collection of love poems that explores how intimacy tests the capacity of language.
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Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic poet and an artist.
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Bahar Orang
Where Things Touch
(Book*hug) is the first book of Bahar Orang.
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Ben Ladouceur
A local and much lauded poet, Ben Ladouceur's most recent is
Mad Long Emotion
(Coach House).
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Brandon Wint
Brandon Wint's first print collection is
Divine Animal
(Write Bloody North, 2020).
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Catherine Lalonde
Originally trained in contemporary dance, Catherine Lalonde is a poet and journalist.
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Chuqiao Yang
Born in Beijing and raised in Saskatchewan, Chuqiao Yang’s poetry has received many awards.
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Conyer Clayton
Conyer Clayton’s long-awaited debut collection is
We Shed Our Skin Like Dynamite
.
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David O'Meara
Ottawa poet David O’Meara is the author of four collections of poetry so far.
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Dimorphic
Dimorphic discovered spoken word in 2008, and has represented Lanark County at 7 national festivals.
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Dominique Bernier-Cormier
Dominique Bernier-Cormier's
Correspondent
was longlisted for the Raymond Souster Award.
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Eric Charlebois
Poet, motivational speaker, Éric Charlebois specializes in English-language aboriginal poetry translation.
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Eve Bilodeau
S’accorder
(BouquinBec) by Eve Bilodeau is like playing with the filaments of hope that surround us.
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Gabrielle Marceau
Gabrielle Marceau is currently completing a book of poems entitled
A Tree in Miami
.
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H
Helen Robertson
Helen Robertson was longlisted for the 2019 Vallum Award for Poetry.
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Irfan Ali
Irfan Ali’s debut collection,
Accretion
is their humility. Faith and cynicism, love and betrayal.
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J
J.R. Carpenter
Itinerant poet JR Carpenter lives in Edmonton, where she is the writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta.
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Janick Belleau
The poems of cultural journalist and communicator Janick Belleau have been published for over 30 years.
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Jayde
For Ottawa poet Jayde, spoken word is an opportunity to reclaim self.
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Jennifer Pederson
Jennifer Pederson's poems have been called powerful and sensual.
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Johannes Göransson
Johannes Göransson makes “a language out of the bleed-through” as you’ll see in
Poetry Against All
(Tarpaulin Sky).
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Julie Morrissy
Irish poet and lawyer Julie Morrissy released
Where, the Mile End
with Book*hug in 2020.
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Justin Million
Justin Million’s first book
EJECTA!: The Uncollected KEYBOARDS! Poems
is forthcoming with Apt. 9 Press.
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Kaie Kellough
Kaie Kellough experiments in sound and poetry and has authored two sound-poetry recordings.
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Kamal Hakim
Kamal Hakim is a Somali-Canadian spoken word, hip hop artist, and entrepreneur from the city of Ottawa.
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Karen Solie
Karen Solie's most recent collection,
The Caiplie Caves
(Anansi), was short-listed for the TS Elliot Prize.
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Karuna Vellino
Karuna Vellino's chapbook
A Year In Violets
is a collection of poems that give voice to Karuna’s experience with love and identity.
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Ken Babstock
Poet, editor and teacher, Ken Babstock’s latest is
Swivelmount
from Coach House books.
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Ken Victor
Ken Victor's
We Were Like Everyone Else
(Cormorant Books) traverses humanity's challenges.
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Larissa Tarasoff
Part of the 2015 Saskatoon Slam Team, Larissa Tarasoff won first place at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.
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Laura Kasischke
Laura Kasischke poems work in haunting fragments and visceral snippets in
New and Selected
(Copper Canyon).
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Lindsay B-e
Lindsay B-e's
The Cyborg Anthology
melds sci-fi and poetry, human and machine.
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M
Margo LaPierre
Margo LaPierre’s
Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes
finds passion in chaotic liminal spaces.
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Marshall Hryciuk
One of Canada's leading haikuists Marshall Hryciuk makes a return visit to VERSeFest.
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Maude Pilon
Maude Pilon's projects involve generous doses of collaboration and performance.
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Maya Cousineau-Mollen
In her first collection, Maya Cousineau Mollen explores paths of anger, be it territorial, identity-based or femininity.
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Michel Therien
Le poème involontaire
is Michel Therien's eleventh collection.
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Mike Montreiul
Montreuil is a prevailing voice in tanka, haiku, senryu, tanka and haibun in English and French Canada.
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Monika Rinck
Berliner Monika Rinck writes poems of pointed social critique. They will make you be more beautiful.
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Namitha Rathinappillai
Namitha Rathinappillai published her first chapbook
Dirty Laundry
with Battleaxe Press in 2019.
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natalie hanna
Natalie Hanna's work has appeared with above/ground press, In/Words Press, phafours press, and Hussy Press.
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Nelson Charest
Nelson Charest teaches modern poetry at the University of Ottawa.
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Nicole Raziya Fong
PEЯFACT is Nicole Raziya Fong’s moving, philosophical debut in poetry.
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Oana Avasilichioaei
Performer, translator and poet Oana Avasilichioaei writes of surveillance and resistance in
Eight Track
(Talon).
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Pearl Pirie
Pearl Pirie's fourth collection is
footlights
from Radiant Press.
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Philip Metres
Philip Metres' latest collection is
Shrapnel Maps
(Copper Canyon 2020).
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rob mclennan
rob mclennan's most recent are
A halt, which is empty
(Mansfield Press, 2019) and
Life sentence,
(Spuyten Duyvil, 2019),
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S
Sara Dignard
Sara Dignard’s debut collection,
Le cours normal des choses
, won the Prix Jovette-Bernier for poetry.
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Shawn K
Shawn K went to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word with a poem called
Gratitude
.
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Shazia Hafiz Ramji
Shazia Hafiz Ramji swept up the prizes with her
Port of Being
(Invisible).
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Shery Alexander Heinis
Rising iterary star Shery Alexander Heinis is the author of
Splinter
.
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Simon Brown
Simon Brown's
This Mud, A Word
, was recently released by Frog Hollow Press.
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stephanie roberts
stephanie roberts dreams of a compassion-based society and wrote
rushes from the river disappointment
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Stephen Sexton
Belfast poet Stephen Sexton’s
If All the World and Love Were Young
won the Forward Prize.
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Susan Atkinson
Susan Atkinson's debut poetry collection is
The Marta Poems
(Silver Bow Press, 2020)
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Switch Bridges
Switch Bridges was a member of the CFSW Championship Youth team in 2011.
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Véronique Sylvain
Véronique Sylvain specialises in literature of the North French Canadians.
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Vivian Vavassis
Vivian Vavassis's poetry surges with alert energy.
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