Shab-e She'r-Poetry Night LVIII

Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) LVIII

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: Lisa Richter and George Elliott Clarke

Host: Bänoo Zan

Time: Tuesday, December 19, 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

Lisa Richter’s poetry has appeared in Literary Review of Canada, The Malahat Review, The Puritan, Canthius, Crab Creek Review, and others. Her work was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2015, and recently won first place in CV2 Magazine’s annual 2 Day Poem Contest. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Closer to Where We Began, was published in spring 2017 by Tightrope Books. She lives, writes, and teaches English as a second language in Toronto.

The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and 7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke is a revered artist in song, drama, fiction, screenplay, essays, and poetry. Now teaching African-Canadian literature at the University of Toronto, Clarke has taught at Duke, McGill, the University of British Columbia, and Harvard. He holds eight honorary doctorates, plus appointments to the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada. His recognitions include the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the Premiul Poesis (Romania), the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction, the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award. Clarke’s work is the subject of Africadian Atlantic: Essays on George Elliott Clarke (2012), edited by Joseph Pivato.

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.

Twitter: @BanooZan & @ShabeSherTO

Instagram: @banoo.zan