Do you like poetry? If your answer to my question is no, then I would humbly suggest you are lacking in character.
If your answer is yes, then I am happy to help promote an event that the UNBC Arts Council and the Women's Center that is happening on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the UNBC Rotunda Gallery.
Please join local artists, poets, spoken word artists and word smiths during the annual Creativity and Coffee Night.
This year's theme is Inspiring Women Among Us and will be fundraising for the UNBC Women's Center.
I would strongly encourage people to attend if they like a good story woven for them. Among the presenters are Rob Budde, Janet Rogers, Si Transken, Darcy Taylor, Adrienne Fitzpatrick, Mia Papau, Krystal Vandenberg, Hiraa Rashid, John Mainville, Kelly Bouchard, Trina Johnson and Kyle Wilson.
Visual artists include April Henderson and Cat Silvertsen.
Please email [email protected] for more information about the event.
I normally do not promote individual events and fundraisers in this space however I am making an exception because it's a poetry event that's raising money for a good cause.
I am assisting because poetry is undervalued in our community, in our culture and in our country. I believe that poets should be able to proudly say, "I'm a poet" when people ask them what they do for a living.
Sadly, this rarely happens.
On Thanksgiving weekend, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Northern Exposure Conference in Wells. This was a conference designed for festival directors, musicians and artists from around the Province and one of the music performers was my husband, William Kuklis.
William and I were only able to attend a few sessions (because, kids) but one of the performances we were able to attend was Janet Rogers who is UNBC's Writer in Residence until early next year. Rogers is a Mohawk/Tuscaroran poet who is an award-winning author and performer and I was so pleased to see her perform her poetry live.
I haven't seen spoken word performed since I was living in Victoria and fresh out of university and I didn't realize how much I missed it. Roger's poems brought tears to my eyes and envy to my heart; it made me want to write better. Her poetry got me in the gut which is what good poetry should do.
I am looking forward to Thursday and I hope to see you there.
