International Showcase of Poets Presented by the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival and the League of Canadian Poets

The Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, in partnership with the League of Canadian Poets, is delighted to join forces with Australian Poetry and the Melbourne Writers Festival to showcase Canadian and Australian poets for audiences in both countries. These two national poetry associations and highly regarded literary festivals will offer a virtual front row seat for an international celebration of poetry, happening on two dates in August. Lesley Fletcher, Executive Director of the League of Canadian Poets says, “This partnership has allowed the League, the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, Australian Poetry and the Melbourne Writers Festival to showcase wildly talented poets in a whole new way and to a whole new audience. We are thrilled for the opportunity to share the talent of Canadian Poets internationally, and to help to present some of Australia’s incredible poets to a new and engaged audience in Canada.”

Jacinta Le Plastrier, Publisher and CEO at the national poetry association Australian Poetry, says, ‘In almost all times of social suffering across history, human communities have gone to their poets, and poetry, for meaning-making, to grieve, to find hope, to be compassionate. It is at these times poetry shows why it matters. So, with deep gratitude, we partner with the League of Canadian Poets and the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, to take poetry for these times, across two events, out to as many people as possible, and for free, to optimize access.’

On Friday August 7 at 9:00 p.m. Canadian EST (Saturday August 8, 11:00 a.m. Australian EST) Australian Poetry and the Melbourne Writers Festival will launch “Meditations in an Emergency”, an event featuring poets Evelyn Araluen, Toby Fitch, Ursula Robinson-Shaw and Darlene Silva Soberano. This performance is a response to the increasingly precarious state of the world, and a tribute to the late, radical poet, Sean Bonney (1969–2019), whose final book Our Death is a work of radiant fury, lament and refusal.

Registration details can be found at emwf.ca and https://tickets.mwf.com.au/Events/Meditations-in-an-Emergency

Media inquiries can be directed to artisticdirector@emwf.ca or lesley@poets.ca.

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