Friday Special Blend
Tuesday November 17th, 2020 with Susan Johnston
River surfing. Riverbed Reading Series. Versefest.

In early Spring 2019, Jacob Kelly Quinlan completed his goal of surfing 100 river waves around the world. He worked with filmmaker Nico Walz to make a short documentary about his experience. The Wave we Choose is screening at the Ottawa Adventure Film Festival is a local event that brings together the region’s vibrant outdoors community to watch the best outdoor adventure films from around the world. The festival will offer all of the programs virtually and a small selection of programs live at the Mayfair theatre. More info about the festival here: https://www.oaff.ca; Jacob also recommends River Surf Ottawa-Gatineau (RSOG) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694775854139795/ Unsociably High (Ottawa), Stedmond Pardy (Toronto), and Lillian-Yvonne Bertram (Boston) are performing at the Riverbed Reading Series tomorrow night (7:30pm; Zoom). The Riverbed Reading Series … is driven by the belief that the artistic spheres are connected. Inspired by the spirit of Café le Hibou Ottawa (1965-70) and Cabaret Voltaire Zurich (1916). According to co-curators Nina Jane drystek, Ellen Chang-Richardson, and Rachel Weldon, “we are an inclusive, experimental gathering space at the very intersection of literature, music and performance located on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg First Nation.” More info at: riverbedreads.ca; unsociablyhigh.com; lillianyvonnebertram.com. Brandon Wint is a writer and performance poet based in Canada. His devotion to creativity, love and Divine understanding is evident in all of his poetic work. He is a two-time Canadian slam champion, an arts-educator and artist of national distinction. We’re featuring two tracks from Against Loneliness, the EP he recorded in collaboration with Ottawa-based producer Jeepz. Catch Brandon at Versefest this Friday night at 7:30. More info at: versefest.ca, or BrandonWint.Bandcamp.com. On Sunday, I learned that Ottawa poet Conyer Clayton had released an audio book version of her 2018 chapbook, Undergrowth (Bird, buried press). Undergrowth consists of 16 prose poems, using the guise of seed packets and botany to explore gendered violence, domestic disturbance, and self-realization, and am delighted to share it in its entirety. Conyer will be reading . Saturday November 21 as part of Plan 99 Reading Series alongside Ken Babstock and Annick MacAskill, 7:30 pm EST. More info at: https://versefest.ca/year/2020/