English Poets

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Alessandra Naccarato
English

A three-time Canadian national slam finalist who speaks about resilience, queer identity and the inheritance of struggle.

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Amanda Earl
English Local

Amanda Earl is the author of Kiki, and was inducted into the VERSeOttawa Hall of Honour in 2014.

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Anne Compton
English

Anne Compton won the 2005 Governor-General's Award for Poetry, for her collection Processional.

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Anthony Bansfield
English

Anthony Bansfield is an iconic Canadian spoken word artist and builder of community.

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Arleen Paré
English

Arleen Paré's Lake of Two Mountains won the 2014 Governor General's Award for poetry.

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Armand Garnet Ruffo
English

Armand Garnet Ruffo's Treaty# is from Wolsak and Wynn.

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Artemysia
English

Artemysia has been performing in Ottawa for over two years, and runs the monthly series Words to Live By.

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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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bill bissett
English

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

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C

Claire Caldwell
English

Claire Caldwell is a poet and editor living in Toronto, and runs SmallPrintTO's Rhyme Stew, a rap-poetry workshop for kids.

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D

dalton derkson
English

dalton derkson is a punk poet from the prairies, and runs the D.I.Y. collective Hurtin' Crí¼e Press.

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Daphne Marlatt
English

Daphne Marlatt is a poet, dramatist, and novelist, and winner of the 2012 George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Deanna Young
English

Deanna Young "“ English Poet Laureate, Ottawa.

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Dennis Cooley
English

Dennis Cooley is the author of 19 poetry collections.

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El Jones
English

Poet Laureate of Halifax, El Jones is a spoken word champion, activist and teacher who has performed all over Canada.

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Elaine Feeney
English

A part of a growing band of new young political Irish poets, Elaine Feeney has flourished as an internationally-acclaimed spoken word artist.

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Emma Blue
English

Emma Blue was a member of the London Poetry Slam's 2014 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word team.

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Forrest Gander
English

Forrest Gander has written numerous books of poetry, and has translated poets' writing in Spanish and Japanese.

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Frances Itani
English

Frances Itani is an award-winning author of 16 books: novels, poetry, short stories and children's books.

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Gail Scott
English

Gail Scott, an acclaimed Montreal novelist, has written several ground-breaking novels.

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Gary Geddes
English

Gary Geddes has written and edited more than 45 books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, criticism, and translation.

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Ger∂ur Kristny
English

Ger∂ur Kristny won the Icelandic Literature Awards in 2010 for her book of poetry Bló∂hófnir (Bloodhoof).

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Giles Benaway
English

Giles Benaway (Anishinaabe/Métis/Tsagli) is of Odawa/Potawatomi, Cherokee, Métis and European descent.

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Gillian Wigmore
English

Gillian Wigmore has written 3 poetry collections. Her book, soft geograhy, won the 2008 ReLit award.

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Grant Savage
English

Grant Savage is among the best known and respected Canadian writers of Japanese forms.

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Jamaal Jackson Rogers
English

Jamaal Jackson Rogers is a nationally recognized artist, entrepreneur and arts educator, and Ottawa's English Poet Laureate.

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JC Bouchard
English

JC Bouchard a Toronto poet and the author of Portraits (2014), and WOOL WATER, forthcoming Spring 2015.

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Jeramy Dodds
English

Poetry editor at Coach House books, Jeramy Dodds' Crabwise to the Hounds won the Trillium Book Award for poetry.

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John Akpata
English

John Akpata is a writer, musician, Spoken Word artist and Art Educator based in Ottawa, Canada.

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King Kimbit
English

King Kimbit is an Ottawa rapper. Deal with it.

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Komi Olaf
English

Komi Olaf's surrealistic art and poetry bridges cultural divides and speaks of the immigrant's perspective.

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Lillian Allen
English

Lillian Allen specializes in dub poetry, a highly politicized form preferring a black aesthetic and cultural codification.

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Lisa Jarnot
English

Lisa Jarnot is the author of four full-length collections of poetry.

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Lorna Crozier
English

Lorna Crozier is an icon in Canadian poetry circles.

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Marshall Hryciuk
English

One of Canada's leading haikuists Marshall Hryciuk makes a return visit to VERSeFest.

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Nick Laird
English

Nick Laird is an award-winning Irish poet and novelist.

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O

OpenSecret
English

Ikenna Onyegbula a.k.a OpenSecret is a writer, arts educator and World Champion spoken word poet of Nigerian descent.

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Patrick Friesen
English

Patrick Friesen is the author of numerous books of poetry, a book of essays, a play, and co-translations of several Danish poets.

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Patrick Lane
English

Patrick Lane is one of Canada's pre-eminent poets, winner of numerous awards, including the GG Award for Poetry.

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Paul Vermeersch
English

Paul Vermeersch is the author of several poetry collections, and is Senior Editor for Wolsak & Wynn Publishers Ltd.

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Pearl Pirie
English Local

Pearl Pirie's fourth collection is footlights from Radiant Press.

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Rational Rebel
English

As a spoken word artist, activist, writer and a philanthropist, Rational Rebel's mission is to tell stories that are hard to tell.

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Raúl Zurita
English

Raúl Zurita Canessa (born 1950) is a Chilean poet. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2000.

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Roland Prevost
English

Roland Prevost is the author of Singular Plurals (Chaudiere, 2014) and four chapbooks.

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Sandra Ridley
English Local

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

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Sheri-D Wilson
English

Sheri-D Wilson has nine collections of poetry and two Spoken Word CDs.

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Stan Dragland
English

Stan Dragland's books have won the Gabrielle Roy Prize for Canadian literary criticism and the bpNichol Chapbook Award, among others.

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Stephen Brockwell
English

Stephen Brockwell is a Montreal poet living in Ottawa.

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Steven Artelle
English

Steven Artelle's first collection of poems, Metropantheon, was published in 2014 by Signature Editions.

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Stevie Howell
English

Stevie Howell's first book, Sharps, was released in Fall 2014.

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Titilope Sonuga
English

Titilope is a Nigerian born spoken word poet and winner of the 2011 Canadian Authors' Association Emerging Writer Award.

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