Tag Archives: Sheri-D Wilson

May 12, 2016

2 Days and Counting

By calgaryyouthslam

Just two days left until Can You Hear Me Now? 2016 kicks off.

The poets are madly writing and memorizing their poems (still?!?). The coaches are nervously planning their trips, calmly reassuring their poets, and desperately emailing their questions. The judges are expertly honing their judgments by scoring everything they see, from meals to driving skills. (“I give the pancakes an 8.4, but Mr. McSleepy gets a 6.9 because of his lack of commitment and a 0.5 point deduction for taking longer than 3 minutes to change lanes,” one judge was heard saying on the way to work this morning.)

All because in just 40 hours, more than 100 Alberta poets will converge on Ernest Manning High School (20 Springborough Blvd. SW, Calgary) in an epic battle of words, wit, woefulness, whimsy, and theatricality* to determine the greatest poetry slam team of this generation!**

Bring a non-perishable food item (a donation for the Calgary Food Bank) to gain entry for the weekend, with everything starting at 3 pm on Friday, May 13. The full schedule can be found on the Attend page, so stop by, say “Hi,” and experience some spectacular poetry!

 

 

 

 

*Of course “theatricality” breaks both the rhythm and the alliteration of the other words, but this is a blog post, not poetry – what did you expect? If you’re a sucker for rhythm and alliteration, you better attend the slam this weekend!

**This comment is merely for hyperbolic effect and is not an actual description of any award or prize actually being awarded or prized at CYHMN? 2016.

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May 9, 2016

Sheri-D and Erin Dingle to MC Slam Finals!

By calgaryyouthslam

Local spoken-word poetry legend Sheri-D Wilson and Canadian individual slam finalist Erin Dingle will be hosting the Final Stage at CYHMN? 2016 on Saturday, May 14 from 3 pm to 5 pm at Ernest Manning High School (20 Springborough Blvd. SW, Calgary, Alberta).

In addition, the Calgary slam team will be starting the finals with a team performance. After, the best 4 teams of poets in the province of Alberta will compete to be named Can You Hear Me Now? Poetry Slam Champions for 2016.

This all happens in less than 5 days! Check out the schedule to see when you can witness the poetic spectacle of CYHMN? Remember that admission costs 1 non-perishable food item (in support of the Calgary Food Bank).

If you’d like to volunteer to help out at the slam (time keeper, score keeper, judge), please contact Richard Wagner (rgwagner@cbe.ab.ca) as soon as possible.

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May 8, 2014

His Worship Naheed Nenshi Mayor of Calgary to Judge Finals of “Can You Hear Me Now?” – Calgary’s Inaugural High School Poetry SLAM

By calgaryyouthslam

Mayor Naheed Nenshi has graciously and generously agreed to judge the final round of competition for Can You Hear Me Now? the inaugural Calgary city high schools poetry SLAM on May 10, 2014.

There will be more than fifty poets representing seven city high schools from both the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Separate School District, including Lord Beaverbrook, Bishop Grandin, Father Lacombe, and St. Anne in the first semi-final at 9 a.m.; and Centennial, Bowness, Robert Thirsk, and Father Lacombe high schools in the second semi-final at 12 p.m. The top two teams from each semi-final will compete in the finals, which start at 3 p.m. The SLAM is being held in the Lord Beaverbrook High School theatre (9019 Fairmount Drive SE).

The Mayor will be joined by a variety of local poets and entertainers, including:

  • SLAM Master extraordinaire Sheri-D Wilson (named one of CBC Arts Top Ten Poets in Canada in 2009 and all-around legendary poet),
  • Kris Demeanor (Calgary’s Poet Laureate from 2012-2014),
  • Adrienne Adams (creator and host of “Woolf’s Voices”),
  • Wakefield Brewster (local performance poet and actor),
  • Paul Finkleman (longtime Calgary performance poet),
  • Desiree Gravel (member of the 2014 Calgary SLAM team),
  • D. A. Jones (singer/songwriter and member of Nerds in Cool Clothing),
  • Christa Mayer (member of Prairie Fire, the 2013 Calgary SLAM team),
  • Adora Nwofor (from The Sunday Omony Show),
  • Kirk Ramdath (founder of both the Passion Pitch poetry series and Auburn Nights),
  • Juleta Severson-Baker (from Mount Royal University’s Speech Arts Faculty),
  • Esau Tamura (member of the Calgary SLAM team in 2010 and 2014),
  • Ryan Thelwell (Calgary Stampeders’ receiver from 2007 to 2011),
  • Emily Ursuliak (local writer and member of the Calgary Public Library teen services team),
  • Benjamin Valentine (popular Calgary comedian).

We’d like to express our deepest and most sincere gratitude to all of the people who have volunteered their time, expertise, and selves, to help make this an amazing opportunity for all the poets!

Follow us on Twitter @HearMeNowYYC or use #hearmenowyyc to join the conversation.

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April 21, 2014

Sheri-D Wilson agrees to be SLAM! Master!

By calgaryyouthslam

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?!

 

 

 

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