April is National Poetry Month in Canada, and local writers and readers are rising to the occasion. This Friday, April 8, thirty-five people will share favourite works at the annual Poetry Reading co-hosted by the Flin Flon Writers Guild, the Flin Flon Toastmasters, and the Flin Flon Public Library.
This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the event.
“I’m amazed at how it’s taken off,” said Glenda Walker-Hobbs, secretary for the writers guild and one of the founders of the annual event. “There are usually 50 to 70 people in attendance.”
Walker-Hobbs says both the readers, and the works that they choose to read, are varied.
“We have a cross-section of the community: people from the school division, the mayor, and different organizations represented.”
This year’s lineup includes two seven-year-olds, and a delegation of six Toastmasters members from Winnipeg, making the trek north for the occasion.
April will also see the inaugural edition of Ore Samples, a poetry reading series launched by Creighton poet Brenda Schmidt.
The first Ore Samples evening, on Thursday, April 28, will feature visiting writer Garry Thomas Morse and local writers Kevin Imrie and Glenda Walker-Hobbs.
Friday’s Poetry Reading will take place at 7 pm at the Flin Flon Public Library.
