Verses 2026 – Festival Overview

Johnny Trinh, Artistic Director Statement

The 2026 Verses Festival of Words marks the culmination of a four-year vision of Executive Artistic Director Johnny D Trinh, with the theme: Intimate Dialogues. Upon the return of in-person programming, the festival’s focus has been centred on gathering, community, shared learning, amplifying voices in solidarity, and being in space together. Intimate Dialogues examines how we share connections, consume content, and whisper resilience in the face of global silencing and genocide. 

The featured artists this year all have work that resonates with different facets of quiet resilience, agitation, intimacy, solidarity, and navigating shared space. 

The return of Verses Festival of Words has been fraught, like many arts festivals, the recovery from necessary isolation and pandemic related protocols has forced organizers across the arts sector to reframe capacity, and relearn what artists and audiences need. To be successful, Vancouver Poetry House has intentionally streamlined, and reduced programming for sustainability, and audience retention. 2026 continues this strategy, with the vision to build out in 2027.

This year Hullabaloo returns with an all-star line up of poets for the Youth Festival, featuring: Apollo the Child, Miel Enage, and Becoming Christopher.

The main Verses Festival Programming will once again be hosted at Chill-X Studios.

The festival featured events will include:

• Monday, April 27 @ 8pm to 10pm
  Oral Traditions: International Indigenous Poetry Slam. Co-produced with Derek Edenshaw, Native Hip Hop Society, and Franz Seachel, Enabling Arts Society. This event recognizes decolonizing efforts globally, amplifying human rights, and celebrating Indigenous voices. Open to folks who identify with Indigeneity. Sign up at the door. Prizes include: 1st place $250, 2nd place $150, 3rd place $100 Feature performance by: Spin El Poeta
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/oral-traditions-at-verses–2026

• Tuesday, April 28 @ 6:30pm to 8:30pm
  Famous Last Words from Death Rides A Unicorn, featuring Apollo the Child from Ottawa, Marie Metaphor from Victoria, Skylar Kay from Calgary, joining RC Weslowski, Dina Del Bucchia and Uni the Unicorn.
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/famous-last-words-verses-2026-edition

• Wednesday, April 29 @ 7:30 pm to 11:30pm
  Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Preliminaries Night 1
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/canadian-individual-poetry-slam-preliminaries-night–1
• Thursday, April 30 @ 7:30 pm to 11:30pm
  Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Preliminaries Night 2
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/canadian-individual-poetry-slam-preliminaries-night–2

• Friday, May 1 @ 8:00pm to 10:30pm
  Mashed Poetics
  One of Vancouver’s longest-running poetry showcases. An all-star line-up of poets is invited to write poems in response to curated songs by the Mashed Poetics Band, who play covers of amazing hits for a live, in-person concert that brings loud music and deep poetry into a fun-filled night! This event will feature the music of Tegan and Sara as performed by “The Con” as well as 10 poets writing and performing new work inspired by this duo who once featured at the Vancouver Poetry Slam (according to Al Mader).
  

  Side A
  Stop Desire–Anjalica Solomon
  The Con–Skylar Kay
  I Bet It Stung–Isabella Wang
  Call It Off–Nevaeh North
  Hell–Allie Cristoffanini 

  Side B
  My Number–Amber Dawn
  Where Did the Good Go–Sonnet L’Abbé
  Back in Your Head–Wilhelmina Salmi
  Living Room–Shauna Paull
  Closer–Kay Fraser

  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/mashed-poetics-verses-2026-edition

• Saturday, May 2 @ 32:30pm to 4:30pm
  Stage to Page Showcase: Intimate Dialogues
  featuring: Abdulsalam, Jeremy Loveday, Skylar Kay, and more
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/stage-to-page-showcase-intimate-dialogues
• Saturday, May 2 @ 8pm to 10pm
  Canadian Individual Poetry Slam FINALS Featuring Spin El Poeta
  Join us for the final night of the national competition to determine the 2026 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion

SPIN El Poeta is a Guatemalan-born poet, cultural strategist, and educator whose work has moved stages across Turtle Island and Latin America for over twenty years. Known for performances that fuse political clarity with deep emotional intelligence, SPIN’s poetry explores migration, masculinity, healing and Immigrant–Indigenous friendship with precision and urgency.

He has represented Canada internationally at the 2025 World Poetry Slam, 2024 Abya Yala Slam in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Painted By Poets in Atlanta, and he was a member of the Growhouse Tampa Slam Poetry team in 2024. 

Beyond the stage, SPIN has executive-produced the LA Raza BIPOC Access Podcast and co-founded One Mic Educators and LA Raza Open Mic, platforms dedicated to uplifting Black, Indigenous, Latin American, and Palestinian artists.

Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/canadian-individual-poetry-slam-finals-ft-spin-el-poeta

In addition to feature programming, there will also be Workshops held at Chill-X Studios

• Wednesday, April 29 @ 3pm to 5pm
  Un-Closing Captions: possibilities for descriptive text. Led by Vancouver Poet Laureate Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Elana Brief and Dani Rodriguez
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/captioning-and-scoring-poems-workshop
• Thursday, April 30 @ 2pm to 4pm
  Writing Workshop led by Skylar Kay
  Skylar Kay is an Alberta-based poet and grad school dropout. Since releasing her debut collection, Transcribing Moonlight (Frontenac House 2022), she has moved back home to Calgary where she looks for the magic in everyday life. Her debut collection was well-received, earning a shortlist nod for the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for Poetry, and won the Book Publishers Association of Alberta’s Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry. Her second collection, There’s Magic Here Too (Frontenac House) released in fall 2025.
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/verses-festival-writing-workshop-with-skylar-kay
• Friday, May 1 @ 2pm to 4pm
  Poetry Jam | Historic Joy Kogawa House Partnership
  This open workshop will invite all who are interested in spoken word to participate in a facilitated workshop that includes writing, performance, sharing, and receiving feedback
  Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/verses-festival-poetry-jam–2026

Purchase your VERSES FESTIVAL PASS here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/verses-2026-festival-pass