|
Poetry’s
Own Festival Returns
On the heels of last
week’s Cobourg Council announcement that the town can soon expect
to have a new poet laureate – some are hoping by the end of the month
– comes the news that the second Poetry’z Own Weekend Festival
(POW!) will be held in Cobourg from April 15th to the 18th. Announced
by festival creator James Pickersgill, a member of the Cobourg Poetry
Workshop, this year’s event is a direct result of the success of
last year’s inaugural festival which attracted over 400 people to
hear the various poetry readings and attend workshops. "In the literary
scene beyond Cobourg, the idea of a weekend poetry festival really struck
a chord." says Pickersgill of last year’s accomplishment. "Most
came from nearby but some came from as far as Winnipeg, Ottawa and Windsor.
One couple made Cobourg their honeymoon destination so they could attend
our festival."
A unique event, the
POW! Festival is believed to be the only weekend occasion of its kind
that is dedicated solely to poetry in Ontario. The Spring Pulse festival
in Cobalt started out some years ago as a poetry festival but has evolved
into an event representing many other arts as well. "I surprised
myself last year because, when I dared to ask some big names in the Canadian
poetry world, they agreed to be a part of it." says Pickersgill.
"Carmine Starnino,
who came to the festival solely to participate in our poetry readings
in Cobourg schools, was later nominated for the 2009 Governor General’s
Award of Poetry. This
year, I’m being even more bold, approaching other poets who have
reached the pinnacle of achievement in Canada."
One of the secondary
themes of this year’s POW! Festival will be Poets Laureate Past and
Present. "We have that theme because the festival will feature appearances
by Eric Winter, Cobourg’s first and recently retired Poet Laureate,
as a means of him passing the torch to our town’s new Poet Laureate.",
adds Pickersgill, noting that the new appointment will coincide with April’s
National Poetry Month as well as the festival.
"Last year our
town council declared the dates of our festival to be Poetry Weekend in
Cobourg. It all added up to Cobourg becoming a ‘go-to’ place
for poetry and last year’s festival provided a boost to the local
economy. Many of the attendees stayed at B&Bs and hotels, patronized
local restaurants, creating an interesting niche market through poetry-tourism."
This year’s readings and workshops will again be held at Meet At
66 King Street East in Cobourg.
There will be twelve
guest poets reading this year, the names to be announced shortly. "Every
single one of the poets we are bringing to town should create one of the
highlights of the festival." says Pickersgill. "It would be
difficult to rank one above the other but there are some names that will
cause jaw-dropping responses when we announce them." Go to www.poetrycobourg.ca
for more details.
|
Young
Poets & Poetry for Kids
Celebrate National
Poetry Month with the Cobourg Poetry Workshop (CPW), POW! (Poetry'z Own
Weekend) and your kids!
The CPW invites high
school students to the microphone for its sixth annual "Young Poets"
reading on Thursday, April 15th at Meet at 66 King East in Cobourg. Doors
open at 7pm. Reading starts at 7:30 pm. Admission is free.
On Saturday,
April 17th, POW! hosts a Children's Poetry Reading at the Cobourg Public
Library featuring children's poets Gary Barwin and Linda Dawber as well
as Cobourg's endearing Poet Laureate Emeritus Eric Winter. Barwin's books
include Seeing Stars, Grandpa's Snowman, The Magic Mustache, and The Racing
Worm Brothers. Dawber's equally intriguing titles includes My Cake's on
Fire!, How Do You Wrestle a Goldfish?, My Underwear's Inside Out, Oatmeal
Mittens, and Cankerville. Admission for anyone age 12 or younger is $1.
10:30 a.m. - Noon
----
It's
official! April 16 to 18, 2010 is "Poetry Weekend in Cobourg"
& Thursday, April 15 is "Young Poets Day in Cobourg"
On Monday, March 15, 2010, our Town Council unanimously passed a motion
to: proclaim the weekend of April 15th to April 18th as "Poetry Weekend
in Cobourg" and proclaim Thursday, April 15th to be "Young Poets'
Day in Cobourg."
James Pickersgill announced that from Thursday, April 15 to Sunday, April
18, 2010, we will hold our 2nd annual P o e t r y'z O w
n Weekend Festival. April is National Poetry Month. POW! is a weekend
of poetry in Cobourg, Ontario to celebrate Poetry Month.
A
year ago, this municipality was the site of the first-ever POW! Festival,
which gave the gift of poetry to over 400 guests and immediately became
a nationally-recognized poetry weekend event.
One aspect of this year's festival illustrates what great recognition
we garnered last year: a number of very notable literary publishers have
chosen our POW! Festival as their book launch event for 4 different poets
and this includes the newest collection by John Steffler from McClelland
& Stewart. John Steffler was recently Poet Laureate of Canada. These
4 book releases will feature poetry readings, author appearances and book
signings.
The POW! Festival will once again feature its Children's Poetry Reading,
with Guest Poets Gary Barwin from Hamilton and Diane Dawber of Kingston.
This year, the children's event will be held at the Cobourg Public Library,
which is a co-sponsor.
During the daytime on Thursday and Friday, the very popular Poets In The
Schools part of POW! will be repeated also.
Another
returning feature is our Open Mike sessions, where members of the audience
can get up and read their poetry - something akin to "karoke for
poets."
|
Some new facets have been added to the poetry festival this year. These
are in response to the excellent feedback from the audience last year.
One of those is an educational workshop component. Three poetry writing
workshops will take place, one all day on Friday, April 16 and two separate
half-day workshops on each of Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18.
Another new component of the weekend festival is a film showing. This
documentary is titled "Killer Poet" and the showing will
feature a personal appearance by the film maker, Susan Gray, who is coming
from Boston to participate in a Q & A session with the audience.
These events will bring 25 local poets and 12 Guest Poets from out-of-town
to our local population, plus 5 additional Guest presenters for the workshops,
the Poets In The Schools program and the film showing.
As is now widely known, Town Council is due to appoint Cobourg's 2nd Poet
Laureate in two weeks. The P o e t r y'z O w n Weekend Festival
this year will be used, in part, as an opportunity to both introduce the
new Laureate to the public, and, to offer appreciation to our Poet Laureate
Emeritus, Eric Winter, for all he did during the 12 years of his appointment.
On Saturday, April 17, the POW! Festival will feature a very special Poetry
Reading by Mr. Winter along with a past Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto,
Fr. Pier Giorgio di Cicco and the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Canada, John
Steffler.
POW! does not make any request for money from the Town Council. The POW!
Festival is fully financed by the League of Canadian Poets, The Writers'
Union of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts and sponsorships from
other organizations, local businesses and individuals. For 2010, some
of last year's sponsors are renewing their support, such as SMM Law, Woodlawn
Terrace Inn, Essex House Bed and Breakfast, and the Best Western Cobourg
Inn. We are also bringing new sponsors on board, such as Scotiabank and
The Ontario Poetry Society.
YAY POW! is one unique way a large part of the festival is being financed.
The simple idea is for POW! to say to individuals, "Gimme 10 bucks"
with the idea that raising $10 from each of 153 people might be easier
than raising $1,530 from one main business sponsor. So far, YAY POW! has
been successfully in raising approximately half the targetted amount but
each supporter is still encourage to send their $10.
Last year, Town Council's declaration of "Poetry Weekend in Cobourg"
was a very useful support to our promotion of the Poetry'z Own Weekend
Festival. Comments heard repeatedly noted that it is wonderful that our
Town Council supports our weekend festival this way. That was both in
the feedback received from the festival audience and from people who saw
our advertising but were not able to attend
This year, the week of April 12 to 15 has been singled out in National
Poetry Month as "Young Poets Week." For many years, the Cobourg
Poetry Workshop has held an annual event called "The Young Poets"
which features participants from all the local high schools and the young
writers' group at the Public Library. In 2010, this public event will
be held on Thursday, April 15 for the 6th year in a row.
POW! thanks Mayor Delanty, councillors and members of the Town staff for
their support. It is great that it is official: April 15 to April 18,
2010 is "Poetry Weekend in Cobourg" and Thursday, April 15,
2010 is "Young Poets Day in Cobourg."
|
