Heart of the City Festival seeks poets and Story-Tellers for our return to Giovanni Caboto Park Saturday June 4th and Sunday June 5th. Please email us at heartcitybeat@gmail.com to register for the following events.

Saturday, June 4th
Giovanni Caboto Park

Community Poetry
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Poets will be given prompts at the beginning of the event and time to write. Then, they can read up to three poems in our open stage. Novices and unknown poets are highly recommended to come to this session! We welcome you to share original poetry or to share a poem that inspires or moves you that you didn’t write.

Awakening Poetry
6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Join our host KazMega and featured readers Naomi McIlwraith, K’alli, and Sage Giroux as they read poetry al fresco!
Poets will be given up to three poems or five minutes to share original poetry at our open stage.

*Sunday, June 5th
Giovanni Caboto Park*

Youth Workshop
1 to 2 p.m.

Our workshop leaders Farah and Stef will be giving youth poets prompts and the opportunity to write their own poetry.

Youth Shout Out!
2 to 3:30 p.m.

Featuring poets under the age of 27. Join our featured readers Mikayla Bortscher and Megan Eaker. We will also be having an open stage where young poets will be given five minutes to read the poetry they wrote in the workshop or poems they have written ahead of time.

The Beat Spoken Word Stage’s 5th annual Story Slam
4 to 5:30 p.m.

Edmonton Storytellers of all ages and skill levels will be given five minutes to wow our judges with a family-friendly story. (The story doesn’t need to be for kids, but as there may be children present it must be free of profanity, overt sexuality, drug use, and violence.) The prize is $200.

Email heartcitybeat@gmail.com to register for all events.