Saturday Afternoon
November 6, 1:00 - 3:30 pm

Slam Poetry and C.R. Avery

BAM! The Toronto Youth Slam Team performs its high-energy magic and special guest C.R. Avery makes a rare appearance in daylight hours, before he features at the Durham Art Gallery the same evening. Come enjoy the power of slam, the amazing C.R., and the delights of great books and eats at the cafe.

A poetry slam is a competition at which poets perform original work. These performances are then judged on a numeric (1-10) scale by five previously selected members of the audience. Judging criteria is based on both content and delivery. Poets have 3 minutes to recite their poems. No costumes, props, musical accompaniment, etc. are permitted. Just the human voice and body, more than enough to electrify.

• Location: Great Books & Cafe at the Williamsford Mill, Williamsford (www.greatbooks.ca)
• Cost: Pay-what-you-can

Friday Evening
November 5, 7:30 pm

Darek Dawda

Darek Dawda, aka Drek Daa, is an award-winning poet, songwriter, CBC columnist, arts organizer, and psychotherapist, based in Winnipeg. He has performed in soup kitchens and concert halls, winning the 2004 Canadian Individual Performance Poetry Championship. He was the subject of a full-length CBC documentary, and was Poet of Honour at the 2007 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Halifax.

bill bisset

bill bissett is one of the forefathers of the Canadian literary performance scene, well known for his work with Toronto’s Four Horsemen sound poetry ensemble. Born in Halifax, now based in Vancouver, he continues to write, paint, perform, teach, and collaborate. Bissett is recognized as a Canadian icon in literature and visual art.

Robert Priest

Robert Priest’s words have been debated in the legislature, posted in the Transit system, quoted in the Farmer's Almanac, sung on Sesame street and turned into a hit song, “Instead of a Kiss,” by Alannah Myles. His Reading the Bible Backwards is #2 on the Canadian charts just behind Leonard Cohen. Priest’s own song on YouTube has 75,000 hits. 

Evalyn Parry

Evalyn Parry is a songwriter, poet and ironic social commentator, gifted with a sharp pen, a quirky musical sensibility and a wicked sense of humour. “Equally funny and dangerous” (CBC Radio), Parry’s outspoken, personal and political creations hold out a powerful vision of social change, while her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred.

Saturday Evening
November 6, 7:30 pm

Taqralik Partridge

Taqralik Partridge is a spoken word performer, Inuit throatsinger and writer originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (Northern Quebec). She has toured with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and produced works for the CBC. In 2008 she co-founded Tusarniq – an annual crossroads festival featuring indigenous artists from around the world, held in Montreal.

Ronna Bloom

Ronna Bloom is a poet, teacher and psychotherapist. She has published four books of poetry, most recently Permiso (Pedlar Press, 2009). Bloom is currently Poet in Community at the University of Toronto. She has hosted workshops across Canada and abroad, designing workshops for schools, hospitals and corporations.

C. R. Avery

C.R. Avery‘s genius lies in many genres - blues, hip-hop, spoken word and rock & roll. He is a one-man band, with the rare ability to sing poetic verse while simultaneously beatboxing, pounding the piano and adding harmonica like a plot twist. He has been described as Bob Dylan in the body of Iggy Pop; colliding with Little Walter, the Beastie Boys and Allen Ginsberg.

Sunday Afternoon
November 7, 2:00 pm

M. NourbeSe Philip

M. NourbeSe Philip, born in Tobago, now living in Toronto, is a poet and writer. Her short stories, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in magazines in North America and England. Her poetry has been extensively anthologized, taught at the university level, and she is a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry.

Jeanette Lynes

Jeanette Lynes is the author of five poetry collections and a novel. Left Fields was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award and her first novel, The Factory Voice, was longlisted for the Giller Prize. Currently a professor of English and Creative Writing, she was born in Hanover, and grew up near Durham, Ontario.

Brian Brett

Brian Brett is the author of eleven books of poetry, fiction, and memoir. His memoir, Uproar’s Your Only Music, was named a Globe & Mail Top 100 books of the year. In the fall of 2009, his multi-prize-winning memoir/natural history, Trauma Farm was released by Greystone Books. Trauma Farm remained on the best seller list for almost a year and was one of the 2009 Top 100 books in the Amazon.com, Globe and Mail, and Times Literary Supplement lists. Brett lives with his family on Salt Spring Island, B.C.

Saturday Morning
November 6, 9:30 am - 11:30 am

Writing Your Way Out of a Paper Bag, with Ronna Bloom

This workshop focuses on using writing as a tool to explore where people are stuck and help unstick them. It includes a talk about blocks, frustrations and the tactics we use to avoid/deal with situations. Participants engage in writing exercises designed to open the experience to let some air in, see what's there, and perhaps show the possibility of new directions. (This is done in a creative, non-didactic way and it doesn't promise to solve anything! It's meant to be fun.).

• Location: Durham Art Gallery, 251 George St. East, Durham
• Cost: Regular $30 Student $20; Festival passes available for all workshops; Scholarships available for students - contact us.

Saturday Afternoon
November 6, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Write for Your Life, with Brian Brett

Recently writers have rediscovered the magic of memoir. Writers everywhere are telling their stories in a fantastic mixture of styles. Whether you are writing memoir (non-fiction or fictionalized) for the public record, income, family heirloom, or your own pleasure you will find this workshop valuable. Our lives are full of story and this is your opportunity to learn to tell that story in a variety of forms, either in poetry or prose, or by combining both. Brian has been telling his stories in many forms and voices and performances for most of his life and has much to teach in this most personal of genres.

• Location: Durham Art Gallery, 251 George St. East, Durham
• Cost: Regular $30 Student $20; Festival passes available for all workshops; Scholarships available for students - contact us.

Sunday Morning
November 7, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

3-SOMES and the F-WORD, with C. R. Avery

Take a walk on the wild side with C.R. Avery, once described as Bob Dylan in the body of Iggy Pop. A discussion over good scotch and Cuban cigars, while muddy waters live in Mississippi plays loud in the background. From dead pan sally highway stories, to lost love avenue, side walk east-side ticky talk. The floor will be open to all, and laughter's locomotive like smoke will be in the air. BOOM.

• Location: Durham Art Gallery, 251 George St. East, Durham
• Cost: Regular $30 Student $20; Festival passes available for all workshops; Scholarships available for students - contact us.