Vancouver Poetry House

Jules Koostachin reads Nanan from her book Unearthing Secrets, Gathering Truths published by Kegedonce Press. To unearth our secrets means we must face our past, and in doing so, we will find our voice. Unearthing Secrets, Gathering Truths delves into the life and the healing of an lnnininew woman from … Continued

In this master class, we will explore the poetics of sound and utterance as we craft language and linguistic interventions to align politics and aesthetics. We will experiment with various strategies to texture voice as we become present to this particular moment that we find ourselves in. TICKETS Lillian Allen … Continued

VPH Regional Qualifiers: We recognize that with the global pandemic, many spoken word series have shuttered across the country. For folks whose local poetry slam is no longer active, we will be hosting 6 regional qualifiers: Pacific, Prairies, Northern, Central, Atlantic & French Speaking. Regional qualifiers will be held March … Continued

In this workshop, award-winning solo show performer, and lighting specialist for film and television, Charlie Petch, will take you through the principles of light, sound and script for online performance. Whether it is learning to light and sound better with what you have and dollar store solutions, or getting the … Continued

This event is originating from the Unceded Ancestral Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. For the 2021 edition of Hullabaloo we keep some of the past and forge ahead with something new.Once again we will be having our Spoken Word Jamboree to kick off the festival.  Our featured … Continued

Cotyledon is filled with the poems that poets haven’t been able to share on slam stages, poems that are unconventional, poems that were crafted gently, and haven’t found a home for yet, poems that started out as a whisper, a brave thought, or an inkling. Poems that dream the world … Continued

Vancouver Poetry House is partnering with Stage to Page Performance Society to bring a special public masterclass for Verses 2021. Industry professionals from poetry, publishing, and theatre form an all star panel that come together to workshop new poems by spoken word artists. What happens when spoken word poets publish … Continued

What is your Ritual that you do before you sit down and write a poem? For this Talk the Talk Vancouver Poetry House’s Artistic Director Joseph Dandurand will share what it is that he does before he drops the first word of a new poem. For Joseph Dandurand, his ritual … Continued

Join the Write Bloody North team in a discussion about some of the opportunities that exist for poets who have honed their craft at the poetry slam. Some of the topics we will discuss include publishing, editing, multimedia, film/television, touring and the future possibilities that exist for our artform. The … Continued

Write Bloody North is the only Canadian publisher devoted to the work of spoken word artists. Join us in this celebration Canadian spoken word with some of our past, current and future authors Lucia Misch, Brandon Wint, RC Weslowski and Sheri-D Wilson! Live on POETV

This workshop encourages participants to consider issues of the dynamic world, and to discuss why poetry IS political; IS imaginative; IS activism. How can the vulnerability of writing in this difficult time be turned into a strength, generating powerful and necessary perspectives? The pandemic brings with it overwhelming changes; yet, … Continued

The Gauntlet has been thrown! Poet legends: RC Weslowski, Charlie C Petch, and Nisha Patel are the Verses 2021 Iron Poets. They have spent centuries training for this moment. They have opened the floor to face challengers to compete in zainy poetry games. Hosted by Johnny D Trinh and Brad … Continued

If you’re a poet and you’re also into making music, here’s the101 on how to get started. This workshop will show you how poetry translates to song through rhythm. A stanza is 4 lines of poetry; each line is a bar of music. We'll listen to some instrumentals together, break … Continued

Mashed Poetics is a night of spoken word and music mashup.  Established in 2009 this will be the 50th edition of Mashed Poetics (a Verses Festival mainstay) and we’ll be featuring Black Sabbath’s album Paranoid.  9 different poets will create new works to perform at this event including the reunion … Continued

El Jones will lead participants in a FREE writing workshop that will develop beginner, intermediate, and core skills in writing for page and stage. All skill levels, members of the public, and students welcome! There will be ASL interpreters at this workshop. FREE, REGISTER HERE El Jones is a poet, … Continued

We do not have to write alone. We can riff off one another as we immerse ourselves in poetry creation.  We will do both individual work and collective work in this workshop.  Poetry strengthens the body, sharpens the mind and engages the heart and spirit. There will be ASL interpreters … Continued

On each evening of prelim competition, 16 poets will be drawn at random to compete head-to-head on the first preliminary night of the festival. They will be paired up via random draw. The 8 winning poets from each night of prelims will move onto the semi-finals.  Live on POETV  

The 16 semi-finalists (8 from 1st preliminary night + 8 from 2nd preliminary night) will compete in the same head-to-head fashion, with random draws determining each of the pairings. The winning 8 poets will move onto the finals. Live on POETV

Pre and post show with Ian Keteku and special guests on POETV