English Poets

A

Alan Gillis
English

Irish poet Alan Gillis wields humour and clever word-play with deadly precision that is as illuminating as it is irreverent.

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Alessia Di Cesare
English

Undergrad Alessia Di Cesare's chapbook is How the Heartache Humbled Me.

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Ali Blythe
English

Right from the first poem, Ali Blythe pulls you down the rabbit hole of desire.

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André Narbonne
English

Narbonne's voice is piercingly authentic, composing a human world of compassion.

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B

Barâa Arar
English

Barâa Arar loves stories. She believes everyone has a narrative and we should all lend our ears to hear it.

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Beth Anne Ellipsis
English

Beth Anne brings a spotlight to coming into one's own essence and role in community.

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bill bissett
English

bill bissett is a CanLit institution under a baseball cap. His chant songs are a lifeforce.

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Brandon Wint
English

Brandon Wint's first print collection is Divine Animal (Write Bloody North, 2020).

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C

Cannon2x
English

Cannon2x is a spoken word artist and videographer. He's competed nationally for spoken word.

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Carlos Andrés Gómez
English

Award-winning poet, actor, and writer Carlos Andrés Gómez is a supremely gifted storyteller.

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Carolyn Smart
English

Carolyn Smart's poems of infamous women have been adapted for performance on stage.

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Catriona Wright
English

Catriona Wright's wild narratives are sometimes funny, sometimes frightening and always ravishingly observed.

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Chus Pato
English

Galician Poet Chus Pato pushes languages and they push back into a new space.

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E

Erin Mouré
English

*TRANSLATOR-F* Erin Mouré is dedicated to poetry and the translation of poetry and poetics.

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Eva HD
English

Eva H.D. is a conundrum with the same tarantula charm as Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday.

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Evan J. Hoskins
English

Evan J. Hoskins likes the words non-sequitur disjunctive parataxis polysemous. He'd like to dent normalization.

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F

Faizal Deen
English

Ottawa-native, queer and Muslim, Faizal Deen's voice can carry a crowd anywhere.

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I

Invitational Poetry Slam
English

Who will be crowned the winner of the Capital Slam VERSeFest Invitational Poetry Slam?

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J

Jill Jorgenson
English

Jill Jorgenson finds voice for the tender and the bitter, the peace and the turmoil, the playful and the wise.

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Jordan Abel
English

Nisga'a writer Jordan Abel reconstructs First Nation history & myth with great impact, serving to destabilize Western narratives.

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K

kay'la fraser
English

Kay'la Fraser's poetry ushers the listener to a place of understanding, healing, and transformation.

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Kayla Czaga
English

Kayla Czaga's sly, contemplative thought experiments with itself, showing humour suspended between unsettling thoughts.

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L

Lauren Stiers
English

The sweeping diverse landscapes of Windsor-Essex Country inspires Lauren Stiers.

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Leanne O'Sullivan
English

Of Irish lyric tradition, rich in assonance, Leanne makes slow- burning poems that reward with successive readings.

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Lisa Robertson
English

The incomparable Lisa Robertson's feminist poetry is a deeply satisfying, sexy, workout for the mind.

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M

Madhur Anand
English

Madhur Anand's thought-provoking poetry has a naturalist's eye for detail and patterns.

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Marco Fraticelli
English

Celebrated widely in North America and Japan, Marco Fraticelli is a true master of the haiku form.

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Marilyn Irwin
English

Quiet and fierce, Irwin is an upcoming star, and recent finalist for the bpNicol Award.

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Mark Doty
English

"œTo invent the poet to complete the century"¦I would create Mark Doty just as he is, a maker of big, risky, fearless poems."-Philip Levine

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Mark Frutkin
English

Mark Frutkin's quiet glow of Hermit Thrush was shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award in 2016.

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Michael Dennis
English

Poetry by Michael Dennis is earthy, sexy, common man and comic when you least expect.

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Moez Surani
English

Moez Surani's poetry is conscientiously observing and the force of حملة Operación Opération Operation 行动 Oперация is proof.

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P

Paisley Rekdal
English

Paisley Rekdal's newest book of poems, Imaginary Vessels is crashingly vital writing.

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Patrick Friesen
English

Poet, playwright, and translator Patrick Friesen won the Manitoba Book of the Year Award.

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Phoebe Wang
English

Phoebe Wang is a Canadian writer and educator, author of Admission Requirements.

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R

Robyn Sarah
English

One of Canada's most loved English writers, Robyn Sarah, writes of the lyrical beauty of the daily.

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S

Sandra Ridley
English Local

An intense reader who could still and silence any pins in the room.

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Sharon McCartney
English

Sharon McCartney's Metanoia is a consciously streamed commentary on what the heart wants and is willing to settle for.

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Stephen Collis
English

Bold, relevant, and revolutionary, Collis's poetry makes unflinching, astute and unpretentious calls on social issues.

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Steven Heighton
English

Are you part of the Heighton fan club? A live appearance to tide you over until next time.

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T

Truth Is
English

I am a poet because I do not know how not to be one, Truth Is.

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U

Ulrikka S. Gernes
English

Celebrated Danish poet Ulrikka Gernes' Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments leaps landscapes with a dreamlike agility.

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