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Four published poets from the Okanagan Valley will be celebrating National Poetry Month with an event in Kelowna on April 27.
Sally Quon, Robert Humphries, Fern G. Z. Carr and Lesley-Anne Evans will be reading from their books at The Joy of Poetry event at Third Space Coffee.
“Even those who don't think they like poetry may well change their minds once they've heard it read by the people who created it,” says Quon, the event organizer. “It's a totally different vibe.”
To give voice to other poets who don’t yet have a book out, there will also be an open mic session held after the featured readings.
“There is an amazing array of multi-talented people throughout the Okanagan Valley," Quon adds.
Quon, who moved to Kelowna five years ago, had her first manuscript picked up by Jadon Dick, a local publisher with Okanagan Publishing House.
“I was thrilled to learn it would be ready for release in time for National Poetry Month,” she explains.
“The theme this year is ‘joy,’ and I wanted to share my own joy by creating an event to not just launch my book, but to include three other local poets and their collections.”
While funding for the event was received from the League of Canadian Poets and the Canada Council for the Arts, it doesn’t quite cover the costs.
“Not wanting to charge admission, I decided it would be a ‘donations welcome’ event,” Quon says.
“There is no requirement to donate anything, but any donations received would go toward costs.”
Some of those costs include paying the Third Space Coffee staff members for their time, as the event is outside of their usual work hours.
“In the event donations exceed the balance of the costs, the remainder will be donated to the Wild Things Rehabilitation Centre,” Quon adds.
The featured poets will also have the following books available for purchase and signing:
- Beauty, Born of Pain by Sally Quon
- Fractured Thoughts by Robert Humphries
- Shards of Crystal by Fern G. Z. Carr
- Mute Swan: Poems for Maria, Queen of the World by Lesley-Anne Evans
The event runs from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
*Thumbnail image courtesy of Canva.
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