Free Times Cafe

The WordSpell Collective is excited to present a unique spoken word showcase for March. We have a double bill with Lisa Baird hailing from Guelph and the Back Talk Collective in their first ever feature performance. This is a not to miss show!

Open Mic sign up: 7:30 pm (open to all women and non-binary performers)

Tickets at door: $7 and up (cash). No one is turned away for lack of funds.

ALL ages & genders welcome in the audience!

Open mic time limit = 4 minutes. (Bring your poetry, comedy, music or whatever you'd like! Memorization isn't necessary.)

FEATURE'S BIOS:

LISA BAIRD is a writer, a community acupuncturist and a queer white settler living on Attawandaron/Mississaugas of the New Credit territory (Guelph ON). Her poetry has appeared in various journals including Arc, Rattle, Grain, Plenitude and Canthius. She is a contributor to the Lambda-award winning anthology The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Healthcare (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016) and to GUSH: Menstrual Manifestos for our Times (Frontenac House, 2018). Her first book of poetry, Winter’s Cold Girls, was published by Caitlin Press in 2019.

CANVAS is the name of the Arts action organization that runs the Back Talk program at Eva's Satellite, a youth shelter in Toronto. We have been developing and facilitating poetry writing, performance and professional development workshops with our youth. Our poetry group, The BACK TALK COLLECTIVE, is a group of women and non-binary femme folks who uses poetry and spoken word to speak about their experiences with topics including sexual violence, gender equity, and resilience.

The WordSpell Collective has been showcasing women and gender non-binary spoken word poets in Toronto since 2012!