Help us celebrate the 20th annual Van Slam Finals Night! Join us at The Wise Hall to hear the top 8 poets of Vancouver’s 2015/2016 season drop their most killer poems as they vie for a spot on this year’s Van Slam team! Poets have been gaining points by ranking … Continued
Teen Angst Poetry Somewhere in the back of your closet gathering dust and turning yellow with age is comedic gold. Those old journals, poems, and essays you wrote as a teenager when you thought you could do no wrong, would probably make you cringe at your former feelings if you … Continued
Poetry Is Dead Launch (Secret Identities) Poetry Is Dead's "Secret Identities" issue explores hybrids like the comic book, the prose-poem and the super-hero. Fallen Kryptonians, mad scientists, Sith Lords, teenaged sidekicks, cyborgs, dinosaurs, screaming-pink glam Hologram bands — we're peeling off the mask, stripping down the tights, slipping inside the … Continued
A journey through poetic language and experience, story and song, with a powerhouse line-up of spoken word titans including Anis Mojgani, a two time National Poetry Slam Champion, and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam; Ian Keteku, a two-time national slam champion and the 2010 World Poetry Slam … Continued
ALL LIT UP! If you’ve ever wanted to attend a sophisticated, stuffy literary event replete with monocles and golf-clapping, All Lit Up is not for you! A roster of incredible craftspeople deliver a literary poetry reading in night filled with whimsy and merriment. This event promises to have you making … Continued
CIPS ORIENTATION Poets participating in the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam are required to attend this orientation. The focus will be on making sure everyone is aware of the rules and format of the tournament, the location of the venues, community resources available to them, and the Honour Code (hint: play … Continued
Richard Wagamese's Masterclass: A Workshop on the Power of Storytelling Using theatrical form Richard presents the necessity of returning to telling stories to each other to build community, foster understanding and build a better country. Dramatic, hilarious and touching, with a resonant message he will include a focus on the … Continued
Free Silly: Practicing Presence and Play in Spoken Word In this workshop we will play with clown theory and clown games in an attempt to help us peel away the “performer’s mask” we often present to audiences when performing spoken word and we will practice and play being more present … Continued
In the guts of writers everywhere is a driving force, a question that begs for answer, churning engine for the moving pen. Interrobang?! pays homage to that question with an all star line-up of writers who urgently embrace the unknown world and the strangers within. Filling the room with wonder … Continued
oratorealis Launch Party oratorealis is a biannual literary journal committed to publishing Canadian spoken word and experimental poetry. Through poetry, essays and reviews, oratorealis aims to shine light on the sounds and ideas of this northern nation. Their goal is to bring poetry not frequently seen in print to the … Continued
![[ID: A graphic with the word Talk repeated in different sizes and colours filling the space of the image. /endID]](https://www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com/media/TalktheTalk1.jpg "TalktheTalk")
Talk the Talk: Mental Health Within Spoken Word Guided by two qualified facilitators, this talk is likely to touch on a variety of challenging issues. Active listeners will be present for community care. Come prepared with questions, suggestions and a respectful voice. This discussion is a free event. Seating … Continued
Your Poem is Lasagna, Layered. Join 2010 World Poetry Slam champion Ian Keteku as he explores the layers beneath a poem and performance. Many times performance poets unintentionally come across as preachy, ranting, angry. How do we get our "message" to be effectively communicated? How do we intentionally dig beneath the … Continued
This night will kick off the 2016 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, the event where 40 poets from across Canada compete for the title of Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship, the reigning top ranked spoken word poet in the country. On the first night, 40 of the best poets from across … Continued
This night will kick off the 2016 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, the event where 40 poets from across Canada compete for the title of Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship, the reigning top ranked spoken word poet in the country. On the first night, 40 of the best poets from across … Continued
Femcees Do you turn down for nothing? Must it be the money? Still eating Mom’s spaghetti? Or maybe you’re just tired of the patriarchy. Never fear, we’ve got your antidote right here! Four fierce female emcees firing on all cylinders to take you to your poetic high ground. For flows … Continued
Storytelling is unique within narrative arts. Come experience the power of Story to unfold meaning within the space of the teller and audience. Sink into a world that awakens the senses for engagement, deep listening, attunement with embodied language and a stirring of deep inner ecology. Stories bridge the language … Continued
Improvisers have a lot to learn from poets, and poets have a lot to learn from improvisers. Former Victoria Slam Champion and world renowned improviser Dave Morris will show you how to infuse your poetry with some spontaneity! Let the audiences reaction influence your performance, be present in the moment, … Continued
Day two will see some poets throwing caution aside as they try to move up in the rankings, while other poets will be under pressure to maintain their positions. Poets will be performing two and three minute poems. At the end of Day Two, we will announce which 12 of … Continued
Day two will see some poets throwing caution aside as they try to move up in the rankings, while other poets will be under pressure to maintain their position. Poets will be performing two and three minute poems. At the end of Day Two, we will announce which 12 of … Continued
Mashed Poetics: Jagged Little Pill Mashed Poetics is a spoken word and music mash-up. Picture this: a band is formed for the sole purpose of learning a classic music album. Poets from across the country are wrangled and assigned songs from said album. Poets will present new works inspired by … Continued
Talk the Talk: Allyship & Community Building Guided by two qualified facilitators, this talk is likely to touch on a variety of challenging issues. Active listeners will be present for community care. Come prepared with questions, suggestions and a respectful voice. This discussion is a free event. Seating cannot … Continued
Calling all writers of a nerdy persuasion! This is your night to proclaim to the world your love of isotopes or Harry Potter or Star Trek or Dr. Who or Star Wars or Nintendo or Werewolves/Vampires/Ducks or Sudoku or Quantum Physics or Comic Books or Grammar or anything you feel … Continued
Word Circus A whirlwind of words occurs as Brendan McLeod, Lexi Marie, Rup Sidhu, and Billeh Nickerson perform feats of acrobatic wordsmithery before your very eyes. The round robin format allows the artists to respond to one another and build the energy in a spontaneous way. If you’ve ever seen … Continued
Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Finals The top 12 poets from prelims advance to this bout. Who will claim the title of 2016 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion? This closing gala includes a feature presentation by Vancouver Poet Laureate, Rachel Rose. Poets in the Finals will be performing three-minute poems. The … Continued
Come unwind over brunch at Chicken Sessions! Inspired by Mike McGee’s Kitchen Sessions, and the local Under the Bed series run by RC Weslowski and Wilhelmina Salmi, Chicken Sessions is a house concert, a poetry and story performance space, a potluck, a party, a salon with some Louisiana hospitality tossed … Continued
The Vancouver Poetry House presents feature poet, Tanya Evanson. Tanya Evanson is a Montreal poet, performer, producer, educator and director of Banff Centre Spoken Word. She has released three studio albums, six artist books of poetry, an award-winning videopoem and in 2013 received the Golden Beret Award and was Poet … Continued
The Vancouver Poetry House presents feature poet, Tanya Evanson. Tanya Evanson is a Montreal poet, performer, producer, educator and director of Banff Centre Spoken Word. She has released three studio albums, six artist books of poetry, an award-winning videopoem and in 2013 received the Golden Beret Award and was Poet … Continued
The Vancouver Poetry House presents feature poet, Erin Dingle. Erin Dingle tells it like it is. Whether it’s sad, silly, science or NSFW, she “takes that confused feeling or idea you’ve never had words for and paints it into poetry you’ll understand.” Erin is a performance poet from Calgary, Canada. … Continued
The Vancouver Poetry House presents feature poet, Erin Dingle. Erin Dingle tells it like it is. Whether it’s sad, silly, science or NSFW, she “takes that confused feeling or idea you’ve never had words for and paints it into poetry you’ll understand.” Erin is a performance poet from Calgary, Canada. … Continued
The Vancouver Poetry House presents feature poet, Matt J Loeb. Hailing from Windsor, Ontario, where in 2015 he founded the Windsor Poetry Slam. Matt Loeb is a Spoken Word artist who’s poetry ranges from candid honesty to biting satire. Active in the Vancouver Poetry Slam since he burst on … Continued