Shab-e She'r Poetry Night Nowruz Celebration

Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) LXI

Nowruz Celebration

Toronto’s most diverse poetry reading and open mic series

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: Weeda Salehi Shareqi and Jacob McArthur Mooney

Featured musician: Nawras Nader

Haft Seen: Nina Rastegar

Host: Bänoo Zan

Time: Tuesday, March 27, 2018

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

Weeda Salehi Shareqi is a proud Afghan born lady who has finished earlier education in Afghanistan and got her Accounting diploma from Sheridan College in Canada. Weeda writes in Dari and English. She writes poems, short stories and Novels. She started her English writing career with The Jane and Casey writers group in September 2013 and since has published more than forty pieces from short stories to poems. She has two novels coming up this year: The Water Carrier Daughter will be published by Tell Well publishing and Rukhshana will be published by SBPRA Strategic Book. So, stay tuned.

Jacob McArthur Mooney’s three books include The New Layman’s Almanac (2008), Folk (2011), and Don’t Be Interesting (2016), all from McClelland & Stewart. Folk was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Trillium Book Award in Poetry. He was the host and director of Pivot Reading Series from 2012-2017. Born in rural Nova Scotia, he now lives in Toronto.

Twitter @McArthurMooney

Website www.mcarthurmooney.com

Born in Damascus, Syria, the Singer Nawras Nader, graduate of the “National Conservatory of Music in Lebanon” is a also multi-instrumentalist, composer, vocalist, producer , filmmaker and director who began performing at the age of 4.

Nawras grew up in a family who had a big impact on Syrian music. His father was among the first pioneers who established the first Eastern Musical Institute in Damascus in 1950. Nawras had the passion for singing since he was a young boy. As a boy, He learned to play the lutte in local institutes and was a part of a number of famous bands like “Arabic Melody” lead by Adnan Abu Alshamat.

His career led him to tour the world including Europe (Turkey, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy and Hungary), the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain) and North America, where he performed at various events, concerts and festivals. He received many merits and awards for his outstanding work and in 2014, he composed music for a short movie in the “Canadian Film Festival”.

Nina Rastegar is a painter, art director and designer of handmade silver jewelry. She is a freelance graphic designer working online with different advertising companies in Iran and other countries. She is an ART Director with an English language magazine: www.funglishmagazine.com. Nina studied painting in an art studio which had high academic standards. She has considerable experience in professional acrylic, watercolor painting, and drawing. She has participated in group painting exhibitions in Italy, Turkey, France, London And Canada.

Instagrams:

https://www.instagram.com/ninarastgar

https://www.instagram.com/ninafinearts

Website: www.ninarastegar.com

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