The one, the only, Sheri-D Wilson has agreed to be the SLAM! Master at Can You Hear Me Now?!

In case you are completely new to the SLAM! or the poetry scenes in Calgary or North America (or on the planet), here is some essential info from her bio posted at http://www.sheridwilson.com/bio.html :

Sheri-D Wilson has 8 collections of poetry; her most recent, Goddess Gone Fishing for a Map of the Universe. Her collection, Re:Zoom (2005, Frontenac House), won the 2006 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and was shortlisted for the CanLit Award.

She has 2 Spoken Word CDs (arranged by Russell Broom), and 4 award-winning VideoPoems including: Airplane Paula(2001), Spinsters Hanging in Trees (2002), both produced for BravoFACT.

In 2011 she edited, The Spoken Word Workbook: inspiration from poets who teach(CSWS/BCP), an educational tool for teaching and writing Spoken Word. The cutting-edge website connected to this book presents a possible direction for electronic publishing in the future.

In 2009 CBC called her one of the Top 10 Poets in Canada. In 2003 she won the USA Heavyweight title for poetry, and in 2006 The National Slam of Canada presented her with the Poet of Honour Award.  Of the beat tradition, in 1989 Sheri-D studied at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, in Boulder, Colorado. In 2012 she was presented in the opening event of The National Slam of Canada in a Toronto event called, “Legends of Spoken Word.”

Sheri-D is appearing courtesy of Word Travels, the school program sponsored by the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival (http://www.calgaryspokenwordfestival.com) – “a week-long celebration of the poetic life [that is] proud to offer a gathering of languages, voices, stories, and song.” Every year, the CISWF brings some of the best spoken word artists and performance poets from around the world to Southern Alberta.

She will be selling copies of The Spoken Word Workbook: inspiration from poets who teach at CYHMN? for $20 per copy – a steal for this amazing collection of words of wisdom from top performance poets from around the world, and of writing exercises that will help you to find, explore, and improve your own voice as a performance poet. If you are interested in poetry, or spoken word poetry, or if you are interested in becoming a better writer, or in teaching people to become better writers, this book should be considered indispensable.

We want to extend a tremendous “Thank you!” to Sheri-D Wilson, Word Travels, and the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival for their support of CYHMN?!