Some familiar New West faces will be featured when Word Vancouver hits the streets Sept. 21 to 25.
The annual literary festival runs at a variety of locations around Vancouver, culminating in a Sunday full of activities around Library Square.
New West poet Chelsea Comeau will be featured in the Leaf Press readings series on Sept. 25 at the library (downstairs in the Alice MacKay Room), starting at 11:50 a.m.
Comeau, who was the Canadian winner of the Leaf Press chapbook competition in 2015, has had her work published in such journals as the Claremont Review, Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine and CY2. She’ll be reading from What You Leave Behind, a collection of poems exploring the grief of an uncle’s death.
Also featured will be JJ Lee, who’ll discuss the journey to his memoir The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit, and who’ll also talk about his forays into genre fiction. He’s set to speak at 1:50 p.m. on Sunday, also inside at the library (downstairs in the Peter Kaye Room).
Poet Geoffrey Nilson, author of the chapbooks Alchemy Machine and We Have to Watch, appears in a PRISM showcase at 3:20 p.m. on Homer Street.
Also featured in the festival will be two New West editors: Jen Arbo, editor and co-publisher of Tenth to the Fraser, and Shashi Bhat, editor of EVENT. They’re both part of a panel called Demystifying the Submission Process, aimed at helping writers find ways to get their work noticed. That’s happening at 11 a.m. on Homer Street.
Check out www.wordvancouver.ca for the full roster of events.
POETIC JUSTICE READING SET
And more for the literary types … don’t forget the next Poetic Justice reading session, happening Sunday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m.
This weekend’s session features Henry Beissel and Eileen Kernaghan.
Beissel is a critically acclaimed poet, playwright and essayist who lives in Ottawa, and whose 20 volumes of poetry and six books of plays have brought him to worldwide attention. The 87-year-old poet is on a tour through Western Canada promoting his latest publication, Sightlines.
Kernaghan is a local novelist and poet whose poetry has appeared in numerous journals and magazines. In 2014, her novel Sophie, in Shadow was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and for the Sheila Egoff Prize for Children’s Literature.
Poetic Justice events take place at Boston Pizza, 1045 Columbia St. – and they also include an open mike session, so come prepared to share your own work if you’re so inclined.
Check out www.poeticjusticenewwest.org for all the details.
GET READY TO RUMBA
You can get the whole family moving to a Latin beat in the next free ArtStarts workshop at River Market.
Rumba Calzada will be on hand to lead a workshop in Latin music and dance. Families can drop in for one of two 45-minute workshops – at 11 a.m. or at 1 p.m. – to take part, have some fun and learn a few new moves, all for free. You don’t have to sign up ahead, but showing up early is recommended since the workshops are popular.
Check out www.artstarts.com/weekend for the details, or see www.rivermarket.ca.
Do you have an item for Lively City? Send arts and entertainment ideas to Julie, [email protected], or find her on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
