Poetry punks and young slam artists took the stage alongside esteemed award winners last week for the fifth annual Ottawa Versefest from March 24-30.
The festival featured 63 poets from varying backgrounds and literary traditions. Festival administrator Avonlea Fotheringham said they tried to diversify the festival lineup as much as possible this year.
Spoken word poet Emma Blue said this diversity was apparent to her. Blue performed at the “Fire and Ice” female showcase in Pressed Cafe on March 28. She said the variety of voices at the all-female showcase was “wonderful.”
“I think a lot of times women are considered a monolith—you hear, like, chick-lit, chick flicks, you hear about women having sort of one voice and I think this proved that’s not actually the case,” she said.
Ceilidhe Miller, a second-year communications student at Carleton, said it was cool for the festival to dedicate a significant space to female power.
She said spoken word performer Rational Rebel stood out at the event for her.
“I was thinking when she was performing—it’s a Fire and Ice event—and she’s the fire,” Miller said.
Along with younger spoken word artists, poets who have long been prominent in the Canadian literary scene also graced the festival stage. George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award winner Daphne Marlatt and Governor General’s Award for Poetry winner Patrick Lane both did readings at Carleton.
Lane “essentially can be seen as a poet laureate for Canada,” said festival volunteer Michelle Duquette. “He’s been on the scene for over 50 years . . . He’s very encouraging too. He always wants people to question how can we get better,” she said.
Duquette is an editor for In/Words, Carleton’s literary magazine, along with festival administrator Fotheringham. In/Words hosted an event at Versefest and launched issue 14.3 during the March 25 performance at Knox Presbyterian Church. Poets at the event included spoken-word punk poet and former In/Words editor Dalton Derkson, and Bill Bisset. Known as “the godfather of Canadian poetry,” Bisset was a pioneer in the Canadian experimental sound poetry scene back in the 1960s.
“Seeing him read live—he just puts so much emphasis and so much importance on the way language sounds and the effect language, and the sound of it can have on you,” Fotheringham said. “Lots of emphasis on creating that linguistic immersion where you just sort of get lost in a poem . . . He’s just a lovely person overall.”
This issue of In/Words also features cover art by Bisset, which Fotheringham said is “absolutely beautiful.”
“He has such a radical style. He breaks a lot of form and convention in poetry,” Duquette said.
She added Versefest is a unique opportunity for students in Ottawa to come in contact with poets like Lane and Bisset.
Now the festival is in its fifth year, more prominent poets are attending, she said.
“Last year I saw Margaret Atwood through Versefest . . . You don’t get those opportunities, especially as a student,” she said. “I think that it’s just making our community brighter and even better.”
