Local Poets

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Albert Dumont
English Local Canada

Albert Dumont is Ottawa's English poet laureate.

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Allison Calvern
English Local

allison calvern thinks the best writing hinges on metaphor and beautiful sentences.

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Amelie Trottier
French Local

Bilingual author Amélie Trottier is also an actress, a broadcaster and a columnist.

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Apollo the Child
English Local

Omnipresent poetic leader, Apollo the Child will enliven your hope

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Brecken Hancock
English Local Canada

Brecken Hancock is this year's VERSeFest poet-in-residence.

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Christine Sung
English Local Canada

Local Christine Sung is an upcoming poet.

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David O’Meara
English Local Canada

Ottawa's David O'Meara's newest moving collection is Masses on Radar (Coach House, 2021).

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Dimorphic
English Local Canada

Dimorphic discovered spoken word in 2008, and has represented Lanark County at 7 national festivals.

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DMP
English Local Canada

Daniel Mark Patterson has been delivering spoken word for 13 years.

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Gilles Latour
French Local Canada

Gilles Latour is Ottawa's current Francophone Poet Laureate (2021-2022).

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Kevin Matthews
English Local Canada

Rhythmic moral voice Kevin Matthews calls for our best selves.

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Lana Crossman
English Local Canada

Lana Crossman's alert, insightful poems show her to be a poet to watch.

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Laurie Koensgen
English Local Canada

Ottawa poet Laurie Koensgen’s poetry has appeared in journals, anthologies and online magazines across North America and in the UK.

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LM Rochefort
English Local Canada

 Bilingual poet and editor LM Rochefort’s poems have has appeared in magazines, and in a dozen chapbooks. 

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Manahil Bandukwala
English Local Canada

Ottawa poet to watch soar, Manahil Bandukwala explores in Orbital Cultivation.

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McKenzie McDonald
English Local Canada

McKenzie McDonald won the George Johnson Poetry Award for 2020.

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Michel Thérien
French Local Canada

Le poème involontaire is Michel Therien's eleventh collection. 

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Mike Caesar
English Local Canada

Mike Caesar's first chapbook title releases in 2022.

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Monty Reid
English Local Canada

Monty Reid gathers short poems, wraps them into longer sequences, and gathers poets to assemble.

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Namitha Rathinappillai
English Local Canada

Namitha Rathinappillai is a Tamil-Canadian published poet, organizer and workshop published Dirty Laundry in 2019.

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Nelson Charest
French Local Canada

Nelson Charest teaches modern poetry at the University of Ottawa. 

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Phil Hall
English Local Canada

A festival favourite GG winner Phil Hall’s newest collection is Toward A Blacker Ardour.

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Poetiquette
English Local Canada

Poetiquette explores the bleeding edge of hearts.

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Rhonda Douglas
English Local Canada

Rhonda Douglas is a writer and poet with a day-call as an editor and writing mentor.

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Rusty Priske
English Local Canada

Rusty Priske has been part of the Canadian poetry scene for 15 years.

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Sanita Fejzic
English Local Canada

Playwrite, novelist and poet, Sanita Fejzić’s latest poetry collection is: Psychomachia.

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Sultana Shazi Shirin
English Local Canada

Sultana “Shazi” Shirin currently has 6 books, 4 of poetry and hopes to translate her works from Bengali into English. 

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textcurious
English Local Canada

Sound poet composer textcurious pushes language where it never knew it could go.

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Véronique Sylvain
French Local Canada

Véronique Sylvain specialises in literature of the North French Canadians.

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