Alayne McGregor
The pandemic has made VERSeFest more creative by using its virtual format to find new ways of interacting with poetry.
The 10th edition of Ottawa’s international poetry festival, cancelled this spring, has been rescheduled to November 6 to 22. Entirely online this year, it will feature some 60 poets in English and French in a mix of live and pre-recorded readings, lectures, poetry slams, interviews and panels. It’s organized by volunteers from Ottawa’s poetry community.
Headliners include “Canisia Lubrin, a prominent political poet; Griffin winner Karen Solie, a lyrical poet who subverts the expected; Brandon Wint, a national champion slam poet; Angye Goana, a Columbian poet and activist; Albert Dumont, also known as ‘South Wind,’ a poet, storyteller and Algonquin Traditional Teacher; Anne-Marie Desmeules, winner of the 2019 Governor General’s Award for French-language poetry; and Éric Charlebois, a prolific poet inimitable in technique and bold imagery,” the festival said.
Poets from Iceland, Ireland, Germany and the United States will join Canadians in the line-up.
Seeing into poets’ lives
In previous years, the festival was held at Knox Presbyterian Church downtown. This year’s virtual format has inspired the festival to experiment with new ways of experiencing poetry.
Festival Director Monty Reid said that, as bonus segments in a number of events, different poets will take the audience on short tours of their workspaces, significant locations in their communities, or even their desks. “Each segment will be short and we’re leaving the content up to the respective poets, but we’re expecting some unusual tours.”
Experiences only possible online
VERSeFest Communications Director Vivian Vavassis said they were “determined to create events that wouldn’t feel like a lesser experience than our usual fare, so we tried to generate ideas for the types of experiences that opened up in a virtual medium and could only be possible online.
“I’ve been attending a number of virtual poetry readings, and one of the things that I found myself enjoying the most was when fellow audience members, often known poets themselves, would be following the reading, while milling about their dwellings, boiling pasta, gnawing on chicken wings and sharing what felt like an intimate slice of their lives. And that was a key moment for me when I realized that the virtual medium offered the opportunity for poets to share their physical spaces–or other important spaces to them–and how these spaces influence their writing and processes.”
The audience will also be part of the events, Reid said, for example, in Dial-a-Poet segments. “We expect most events will have an opportunity for audience interaction, most likely in the form of a Q&A session. But, in some cases, we plan to allow one participant to have an exclusive chat with the poet. We’re not sure yet how we’ll make that selection, but it should provide the real enthusiasts an enviable opportunity.”
Other events will “blur” performance and poetry, including the sound experimentations of Oana Avasilichioaei and Kaie Kellough.
Reid said the festival, if not as large as planned for in March, is “a whole lot safer. Poetry never goes away.” He said that some poets did drop out because they weren’t comfortable with a strictly online presentation. “We hope to bring them back next year, when we expect to host a festival with both live and virtual streams. But the great majority of poets were happy to participate online–they understand there aren’t many other options at the moment.”
Outside and inside
“We’re fortunate that, so many months into the pandemic, the literary world is better at this,” Vavassis said. “We’ve had time to explore what works and learn from our sister festivals; the poets are more familiar with what an online presentation entails; and everyone and their dog–quite literally–has poked their heads into a couple of Zoom meetings.”
Poets also contributed “interesting ideas,” Reid said. “One wants to take us on a walk around Dublin. Another group will be recorded in a backyard garden. Some want to include music.”
All events are free for all audiences. The full schedule will be posted at versefest.ca