Kingston WritersFest 2020 Virtual Festival: Poetry for Where We Find Ourselves

The Kingston WritersFest 2020 virtual festival takes place September 23-27, 2020, with more than 60 writers in nearly 50 events over 5 days! The festival will include the stories of women, the stories of Indigenous writers, writers of different experiences, cultural backgrounds, and orientations.

Poetry for Where We Find Ourselves: 4:00 pm – 4:45 pm on September 25th, 2020

“What a place we find ourselves in now. What a mad and dangerous universe of possibility.” (Matt Suddain, The Theatre of the Gods)

Poets Canisia Lubrin and Sadiqa de Meijer open up the universe of possibility in their poetry. Canisia interrogates selfhood against the contemporary backdrop of toxic nationalism and climate disaster; and Sadiqa writes about the “distraction, exhaustion, exhilaration, and fear of raising a child through illness and crisis.” Joining them as moderator is Kingston poet, Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang.

Author Patrons: Alison and Candice Clark, Steven Page in memory of Joanne Page, Sadiqa de Meijer

BONUS! At the start of the event, tune in to Skeleton Park Arts Festival‘s video Renga of a Distanced Spring: Six months ago (March 26, 2020) the City of Kingston declared a State of Emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Not long after the City’s declaration seven local poets (Nancy Jo Cullen, Helen Humphreys, Kirsteen MacLeod, Sadiqa de Meijer, Ashley-Elizabeth Best, Sarah Tsiang, and Kingston Poet Laureate Jason Heroux) collaboratively wrote Renga Of A Distanced Spring. Kingston filmmaker Ali Dixon shot and animated the following video to accompany the Renga, co-presented in commemoration by the Skeleton Park Arts Festival.