If anyone is interested, or already attending, I will be moderating a poetry panel at the Feminist Art Conference. It promises to be an engaging event.
Below are the artists that are performing/reading:
Andrea Thompson, Spoken Word Artist
Poet, novelist and educator Andrea Thompson (MFA) has been a celebrated performer on the Canadian spoken word scene for over twenty years. In 2005, Thompson’s CD One was nominated for a Canadian Urban Music Award, and in 2009 she was awarded Poet of Honour by the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. In 2008, Thompson toured her one-woman show, Mating Rituals of the Urban Cougar across the country, and in 2011, was host of the nationally broadcast television series, Heart of a Poet. Thompson’s writing has been featured in a variety of journals and anthologies, and she is the author of the collection, Eating the Seed (Ekstasis Editions, 2000), the co-editor of the anthology Other Tongues: Mixed Race Women Speak Out (Inanna Publications, 2005) and author of the novel, Over Our Heads (Inanna, 2014). Thompson currently teaches Spoken Word through the Ontario College of Art and Design University’s continuing studies department and Workman Arts in Toronto.
Clementine Morrigan, Poet
Clementine Morrigan is a writer, artist, zinester, academic, organizer, and witch. They are a white settler living and working on Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, and Anishinabek land, known as Toronto. Their work explores trauma, queer temporalities, and more-than-human intimacies. They have a special affinity with plants.
Cathy Petch, Playwright and Spoken Word Artist and Lynx Sainte-Marie, Poet
Cathy Charlie Petch is a playwright, spoken word artist, haiku deathmaster, host and musical saw player for The Silverhearts. Petch’s new vaudeville play: “Mel Malarkey Gets The Bum’s Rush” has had sold out shows in Toronto and Peterborough. They have several handsome chapbooks and “Late Night Knife Fights” was published with LyricalMyrical Press. They have been published by Descant, The Toronto Quarterly and Joypuke journals. Petch is a member of The League of Canadian Poets and “The Dildettes” a queer spoken word/comedy troupe along with Regie Cabico and David Bateman. Petch was a member of both the 2011 and 2012 Toronto Poetry Slam Teams, was the coach of the 2015 team and is the creative director of “Hot Damn It’s A Queer Slam”. Petch is happiest onstage.
Lynx Sainte-Marie is a disabled/chronically ill, non-binary/genderfluid, Afro+Goth Poet of the Jamaican diaspora with ancestral roots indigenous to Africa and the British Isles, living on stolen Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat land (Greater Toronto Area). Lynx is also the creator of #BlackSpoonieSpeak, a creative writing workshop series for Black disabled/chronically ill youth on the margins. Lynx has travelled throughout Canada performing poetry, developing and facilitating workshops, presenting on panels and lecturing at colleges, universities, conferences and various other spaces where it is welcome to interrogate structural oppression. Lynx has had the opportunity to train and educate a plethora of individuals – from social service providers, sex educators, high school and post-secondary students to university faculty and administration – on intersectionality, anti-oppression, queer and trans communities, accessibility, creative arts and allyship. Lynx has also consulted for a number social service organizations and sits on various committees, seeking to challenge mainstream narratives around art creation.