Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) 5th Anniversary

Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) 5th Anniversary

The most diverse poetry reading and open mic in Toronto

At Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) we don’t just wait for diversity to happen: we actively invite it.

Please spread the word through social media and any other way you know. Let our event become as diverse as we are.

Featured poets: Jacob McArthur Mooney and Ifrah Hussain

Featured musicians: Daniel Robinson and Yvonne Choi

Host: Bänoo Zan

Time: Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Place: Church of St. Stephen in-the-Fields, 365 College St, Toronto, Ontario M5T 2N8

Doors open 6:15 p.m.

Open-mic sign-up 6:30 p.m.

Show 7 p.m.

Admission: $5

Ifrah Hussain is a poet and artist educator, born in Toronto and raised in Regent Park. Ifrah started writing at age 12 and first engaged in performance art/poetry at 14. Ifrah speaks mainly about her experiences, aspirations and world affairs. Ifrah became Burlington’s Grand Slam Champion in 2016, came in 5th of 96 Women at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Dallas, Texas and has officially been crowned the 2017 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion, making her the first woman to represent Canada in France next year.

Jacob McArthur Mooney’s books are The New Layman’s Almanac (2008), Folk (2011), and Don’t Be Interesting (2016), all from McClelland & Stewart. He was the host and director of the Pivot Reading Series from 2012 to 2017. He lives in Toronto with his wife and son.

Twitter @McArthurMooney

Website www.mcarthurmooney.com

Building on her Bachelor of Music under the guidance of Leslie De’Ath from Wilfrid Laurier University, Yvonne Choi has completed her Masters in Collaborative Piano Performance under Lydia Wong from University of Toronto. She has been the recipient of multiple scholarships for outstanding music performance, including the Richard Kehn Scholarship, the Ken Murray Scholarship, and the Penderecki String Quartet Prize.

Yvonne has performed with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Chinese Orchestra, and Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, as well as performing in Masterclasses for world class musicians such as Barbara Hannigan, Lawerence Lesser, Michael McMahon, the Penderecki String Quartet, and the Chiara String Quartet. She maintains an active teaching studio and is a sought-after private studio accompanist for all instruments.

A native of Burlington, Ontario, Daniel Robinson is currently a Greta Kraus Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music completing his master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy under the tutelage of Professor Lorna MacDonald. Past performances include Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Papageno in Bloomington Opera Workshop’s Die Zauberflöte, Masetto in Opera By Request’s production of Don Giovanni, and Toby in U of T Opera’s The Medium. Daniel heads the Anishnawbe Health Toronto Music Program for Indigenous Youth and is also spearheading The Sounds of Silence Initiative. This initiative has collaborated with poets identifying with Indigenous, LGBT, Immigrant, and Black communities in the GTA to transform their poems into Art Song and help share their voices/stories. Daniel’s is currently beginning research trials in two main areas: presbycusis and voice-related gender dysphoria. In the latter study, he hopes to look into how goal-specific voice training in addition to speech language therapy can help reduce the symptoms of voice-related gender dysphoria in the transgender community.

Both Shab-e She’r and St-Stephen-in-the Fields strongly support freedom of expression and encourage our features and open-mic’ers to use any language they wish.

This event is partially sponsored by St-Stephen-in-the Fields Church.

St-Stephen-in-the Fields accessibility information:

The venue has a wheelchair ramp entrance and is all on one level; however, the wheelchair ramp door does not yet have a pushbutton, so someone needs to hold the door open. There is one fully barrier-free washroom.

All washrooms are gender-neutral.

@BanooZan

@ShabeSherTO