VERSeFest: Ottawa’s celebration of page and stage poetry

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - 7:00pm

Arts Court Theatre
2 Daly Avenue
Ottawa, ON
K1N 6E2

A festival pass gives the holder a chance to see some of the best poetry in the country and around the world. Headliners for the February 28, 2012 to March 4, 2012 festival include the Summit Reading – a reading by three top poets from Canada, the United States and Mexico – and a Saturday night concert by American spoken word and hip hop recording artist Ursula Rucker.

Ursula is the queen of Philadelphia spoken word poetry, and is one of the few poets who is also a leading spoken word artist in the music industry. She is part of a growing movement in the hip-hop and urban music divisions that is slowly adapting its aural sensibilities to women, and her powerful poems tackle the issues and challenges faced by women with a clear-eyed, painful lyricism. Ursula will also be leading an exclusive workshop on spoken word poetry on Sunday, March 4, 2012.

The Festival’s other headline event, the Summit Reading, brings together 2011 Governor General’s Award winner Phil Hall, newly named American Poet Laureate Philip Levine, and Pura López-Colomé, winner of the Xavier Villurrutia Prize (the Mexican equivalent of the GG.) Diverse in style and background, these three poets represent the best of each of their countries, and hearing them all read together will be an historic event. This reading is presented in partnership with the Embassy of the United States and the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

Tickets are on sale at VERSeFest or in person at Collected Works Bookstore (1242 Wellington Street) and the Manx Pub (370 Elgin Street).