The second edition of the Words in the Taïga Arctic Poetry Festival has begun at École Allain St-Cyr in Yellowknife.
This year’s festival, which has a “boreal magic” theme, launched on March 2 as part of Francophonie Month and runs until April 2.
Festival organizers encourage poets and students to contribute poetry in the form of text, visual arts, audio or video.
People can also submit abrimots – each is described as a “small, magical dwelling designed to house words and poems during the festival” – that must be less than 20 cm high and can be placed on the ground, against a tree trunk or hung from a branch.
The festival’s main event, a poetic trail, will open on April 1. Various forms of submitted poetry and a village of abrimots will be on display.
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A book compiling creations from the festival is expected to be published in the spring.
The festival features the free recording of audio poems at the Médias ténois studio until March 27, poetry workshops for students led by Franco-Ténoise poet Amber O’Reilly, and a slam poetry evening in the prospector’s tent on April 2 starting at 7pm.
The submission deadline for the poets-student mesh is March 21 while all poems and abrimots must be submitted by March 27. People can send their creations to André Beaupré by email or mail them to École Allain St-Cyr.
