Versefest, an annual Ottawa poetry festival, held a reading March 22 at Carleton University. Featuring poets Kayla Czaga and Paisley Rekdal, the reading was organized by the festival in collaboration with Carleton’s Department of English.
Czaga, a British Columbia native, has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award for her book For Your Safety Please Hold On. She read works from that book as well as from a manuscript currently in the works.
Her poetry featured plenty of B.C. imagery, as well as tributes to her father and elementary school math exercises.
Rekdal’s poetry covered topics including the loss of her grandmother, as well as the early Hollywood star Mae West. She read a series of sonnets about West, complete with a West-style Brooklyn accent.
She also alluded to how her mother worked in the same restaurant as martial arts legend Bruce Lee, and how her mother thought he was “such a nerd.”
For Rekdal, who currently lives in Utah, Versefest is a chance to listen to new poets and works she hasn’t heard before.
“For me, what I like about it is I get to hear poets I normally don’t get access to in the States,” she said. “I’m just really excited to hear all of the people from around the world reading.”
In terms of what she wanted students to walk away with following the reading, Rekdal said she hoped students were able to connect with her work.
“If any of the students enjoyed any part of it, then I’d consider it a success,” she said.
Both poets struggled to think of a piece of work they were proudest of.
“For me, I find actually not liking my work helps me a lot,” Rekdal said. “It keeps me writing because the last thing I wrote wasn’t sufficient so I’ll just keep on going.”
“It’s weird to talk about if you like your own work,” Czaga added.
This is Versefest’s seventh year. The first was in 2011 with 31 artists. This year, there are around 62.
David Stymeist, vice-president of the festival, said there was a real “effort to be international” when selecting performers for the festival.
“We have local poets, we have poets from Ontario, but we’re bringing in poets from around the world,” he said. “That’s one of our mandates, to bring to Ottawa audiences some of the best writers from around the world.”
This year’s lineup featured writers from the United States, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Norway.
Stymeist added the lineup reflects the “ethnic and gender diversity” of the Ottawa region. More than half of the artists are women, and there are also poets of colour and transgender artists, he said.
For the future, Stymeist said he hopes to be able to “expand the range of people we can bring,” and keep bringing in bigger names from around the world to keep growing the festival.
He added he would also like to add some more dates in the summer, on top of the current festival in March.
– Photo by Justin Samanski-Langille
