I have news about three upcoming poetry events in Vancouver. The two which are occurring this week are: a lunchpoems@SFU (Simon Fraser University) reading on Sept. 19, 2012 and an On Edge [Poetry] Reading on Sept. 20, 2012 at Emily Carr University.

From the SFU lunchpoems@SFU webpage,

When

Wed, 19 Sept. 2012 12:00 PM

Where

Teck Gallery in SFU’s Harbour Centre Campus, 515 West Hasting Street, Vancouver, BC

Featured Poets

George Bowering, Canada’s first Poet Laureate and co-founder of the avante-garde poetry magazine TISH, was born in the Okanagan Valley. A distinguished novelist, poet, editor, professor, historian and tireless supporter of fellow writers, Bowering has authored more than eighty books, including works of poetry, fiction, autobiography, biography and youth fiction.

Cecily Nicholson has worked with women of the downtown eastside community of Vancouver for the past ten years and is currently the Coordinator of Funds with the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. She has collaborated most recently as a member of the VIVO Media Arts collective, the Press Release poetry collective and the No One is Illegal, Vancouver collective. Triage is her first book.

This week’s  second poetry reading features (from the Talon Books On Edge Reading Series webpage Note: I have removed a link),

Daniel Zomparelli and Heather Haley

Reading is at 7 pm in SB 406 and is free and open to the public:

September 20 – Daniel Zomparelli + Heather Haley

Emily Carr University SB 406
Granville Island, Vancouver
Coast Salish Territories

Bios for Authors:

The Siren of Howe Sound, trailblazing poet, author, musician and media artist Heather Haley pushes boundaries by creatively integrating disciplines, genres and media. Published in numerous journals and anthologies, including Geist, the Antigonish Review, sub-Terrain, the Vancouver Review, ROCKsalt: Anthology of BC Poetry and the Verse Map of Vancouver, Haley is the author of poetry collections Three Blocks West of Wonderland (Ekstasis Editions) and Sideways (Anvil Press), her work described as “a highly fueled poetic ride; fierce, racy, full of stiletto irony and verve, yet rife with sensitivity.”

Daniel Zomparelli is the editor of Poetry Is Dead magazine. He helped start up the Megaphone Magazine Community Creative Writing Program that offers free creative writing classes for low-income and homeless people. He writes for several magazines in Vancouver. His first book of poems, Davie Street Translations, was published in 2012 by Talonbooks.

Heather Haley ((Siren of Howe Sound) has been mentioned on this blog several times as has her upcoming Visible Verse Festival, which is the third event being mentioned in this posting.

The 2012 edition of Visible Verse is being moved its traditional November time period to October but it’s still being held at Pacific Cinématheque. The Visible Verse webpage on the Cinématheque website offers more information about this year’s festival,

Visible Verse, Pacific Cinémathèque’s annual festival of video poetry, moves this year from its customary November spot to a new, post-VIFF October date and goes really, really global! Vancouver poet, author, musician, and media artist Heather Haley curates and hosts our celebration of this hybrid creative form, which integrates verse with media-art visuals produced by a camera or a computer. The 2012 festival will be selected from entries received from more than 50 international artists, who submitted nearly 100 video poems.  Submissions include works from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Russia, the U.S., and Canada. And, for the first time, we are exchanging video poems with Argentina’s VideoBardo Festival and featuring a selection from their 2012 program. As well, we are happy to host Alberta artist Phillip Jagger, who will perform his poetry and also present “Reigning In Chaos: Words Into Video,” a hands-on workshop demonstrating the use of handcrafted video, a Kaos pad, iPod, and video jamming software.

Video poetry and poetry film festivals and sites are now popping up all over the world; Pacific Cinémathèque’s Visible Verse Festival is proud to maintain its position as North America’s sustaining venue for artistically significant video poetry. As founder of both the original Vancouver Videopoem Festival and Visible Verse, Heather Haley has provided a platform for the genre since 1999, and has also vigorously contributed to the theoretical knowledge of the form. Ms. Haley was recently honoured for her work with a 2012 Pandora’s Literary Award. She has also been invited to present a keynote address, on the subject “Videopoetry: New Perspectives on an Interdisciplinary Practice,” at the 4th VideoBardo Festival in Buenos Aires in November.

You can find a list of the video poets/artists and the work being presented on the Visible Verse 2012 webpage.