Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival is bringing esteemed Canadian poets, Britta Badour and Tyler Pennock, to present their NewGen Poetry Workshop, a two-weekend workshop series for emerging poets aged 18-30.
Emerging poets will have the unique opportunity to receive valuable guidance from Badour (Wires that Sputter) and Pennock (BLOOD) to create and present their poetry.
“We have a burgeoning community of young poets in the region and want to support these artists with the unique opportunity to have them in person and learn about writing, publishing and performance,” said Heather Campbell, festival director, Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival.
The workshop sessions take place over two weekends — June 22-23 and Aug. 10-11. Saturday sessions run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday sessions from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The first weekend will focus on creating poetry, whether spoken word or page poetry. Participants will work in smaller groups, with one half guided by Badour for spoken word and the other half guided by Pennock for page poetry.
Lunch and group activities will be provided before the groups switch. The final session will see the artist mentors return to Sudbury to assist the participants with finalizing their work and preparing to perform for a community audience.
Free public transit will be available to and from the NewGen Poetry Workshop June 22-23 and Aug. 10-11. Additional details will be provided at registration.
More information and registration can be found at wordstocksudbury.ca/events.
Britta Badour, better known as Britta B., is an award winning artist, spoken word poet, performer, emcee, voice talent and mentor living in Toronto. In 2023, she released her debut poetry collection, Wires that Sputter.
In 2021, Badour was announced Toronto Arts Foundation’s Breakthrough Artist and COCA Lecturer of the Year. Her work has been featured in print, in sound and onstage across North America in notable spheres such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, CBC Arts: Poetic License, The Walrus Talks, TEDx and The Stephen Lewis Foundation. As an educator, Badour facilitates artist-training seminars, poetry workshops and social justice programs in partnership with organizations like JAYU, Poetry In Voice, Prologue Performing Arts, and League of Canadian Poets.
Badour holds a Creative Writing MFA from the University of Guelph and is a professor of spoken word performance at Seneca College.
Tyler Pennock was the inaugural Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences’ Indigenous Artist-in-Residence at Carleton University in Fall 2013. They are a two-spirit adoptee from a Cree and Metis family around the Lesser Slave Lake region of Alberta, and a member of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.
They graduated from Guelph University’s Creative Writing MFA program in 2013. Their first Book, BONES (Brick Books) was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Indigenous Voices Award for Poetry.
Their second book, BLOOD was released in September 2022. They also teach at the Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto.