A three-time Canadian national slam finalist who speaks about resilience, queer identity and the inheritance of struggle.
Amanda Earl is the author of Kiki, and was inducted into the VERSeOttawa Hall of Honour in 2014.
Anne Compton won the 2005 Governor-General's Award for Poetry, for her collection Processional.
Anthony Bansfield is an iconic Canadian spoken word artist and builder of community.
Arleen Paré's Lake of Two Mountains won the 2014 Governor General's Award for poetry.
Armand Garnet Ruffo's Treaty# is from Wolsak and Wynn.
Artemysia has been performing in Ottawa for over two years, and runs the monthly series Words to Live By.
Barâa Arar loves stories. She believes everyone has a narrative and we should all lend our ears to hear it.
bill bissett is a CanLit institution under a baseball cap. His chant songs are a lifeforce.
Claire Caldwell is a poet and editor living in Toronto, and runs SmallPrintTO's Rhyme Stew, a rap-poetry workshop for kids.
dalton derkson is a punk poet from the prairies, and runs the D.I.Y. collective Hurtin' Crí¼e Press.
Daphne Marlatt is a poet, dramatist, and novelist, and winner of the 2012 George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award.
Deanna Young "“ English Poet Laureate, Ottawa.
Dennis Cooley is the author of 19 poetry collections.
Poet Laureate of Halifax, El Jones is a spoken word champion, activist and teacher who has performed all over Canada.
A part of a growing band of new young political Irish poets, Elaine Feeney has flourished as an internationally-acclaimed spoken word artist.
Emma Blue was a member of the London Poetry Slam's 2014 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word team.
Forrest Gander has written numerous books of poetry, and has translated poets' writing in Spanish and Japanese.
Frances Itani is an award-winning author of 16 books: novels, poetry, short stories and children's books.
Gail Scott, an acclaimed Montreal novelist, has written several ground-breaking novels.
Gary Geddes has written and edited more than 45 books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, criticism, and translation.
Ger∂ur Kristny won the Icelandic Literature Awards in 2010 for her book of poetry Bló∂hófnir (Bloodhoof).
Giles Benaway (Anishinaabe/Métis/Tsagli) is of Odawa/Potawatomi, Cherokee, Métis and European descent.
Gillian Wigmore has written 3 poetry collections. Her book, soft geograhy, won the 2008 ReLit award.
Grant Savage is among the best known and respected Canadian writers of Japanese forms.
Jamaal Jackson Rogers is a nationally recognized artist, entrepreneur and arts educator, and Ottawa's English Poet Laureate.
JC Bouchard a Toronto poet and the author of Portraits (2014), and WOOL WATER, forthcoming Spring 2015.
Poetry editor at Coach House books, Jeramy Dodds' Crabwise to the Hounds won the Trillium Book Award for poetry.
John Akpata is a writer, musician, Spoken Word artist and Art Educator based in Ottawa, Canada.
King Kimbit is an Ottawa rapper. Deal with it.
Komi Olaf's surrealistic art and poetry bridges cultural divides and speaks of the immigrant's perspective.
Lillian Allen specializes in dub poetry, a highly politicized form preferring a black aesthetic and cultural codification.
Lisa Jarnot is the author of four full-length collections of poetry.
Lorna Crozier is an icon in Canadian poetry circles.
One of Canada's leading haikuists Marshall Hryciuk makes a return visit to VERSeFest.
Nick Laird is an award-winning Irish poet and novelist.
Ikenna Onyegbula a.k.a OpenSecret is a writer, arts educator and World Champion spoken word poet of Nigerian descent.
Patrick Friesen is the author of numerous books of poetry, a book of essays, a play, and co-translations of several Danish poets.
Patrick Lane is one of Canada's pre-eminent poets, winner of numerous awards, including the GG Award for Poetry.
Paul Vermeersch is the author of several poetry collections, and is Senior Editor for Wolsak & Wynn Publishers Ltd.
Pearl Pirie's fourth collection is footlights from Radiant Press.
As a spoken word artist, activist, writer and a philanthropist, Rational Rebel's mission is to tell stories that are hard to tell.
Raúl Zurita Canessa (born 1950) is a Chilean poet. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2000.
Roland Prevost is the author of Singular Plurals (Chaudiere, 2014) and four chapbooks.
An intense reader who could still and silence any pins in the room.
Sheri-D Wilson has nine collections of poetry and two Spoken Word CDs.
Stan Dragland's books have won the Gabrielle Roy Prize for Canadian literary criticism and the bpNichol Chapbook Award, among others.
Stephen Brockwell is a Montreal poet living in Ottawa.
Steven Artelle's first collection of poems, Metropantheon, was published in 2014 by Signature Editions.
Stevie Howell's first book, Sharps, was released in Fall 2014.
Titilope is a Nigerian born spoken word poet and winner of the 2011 Canadian Authors' Association Emerging Writer Award.
.jpg)
.jpg)
