Festival celebrates city’s poets

By Liam McPherson

Ottawa’s 7th annual VERSeFest — an event showcasing poets from around the world — took place at Knox Presbyterian Church, on Lisgar Street, from March 21-26. Organized by grassroots volunteers, it attracted thousands of poetry fans over its six-day run.

Ottawa’s multilingualism was well-represented in the event, which featured poets performing in English, French, Spanish and other languages.

Monty Reid, the festival’s director, said VERSeFest is about creating a sense of community through the art form.

“The festival is an opportunity to bring together all of the poetry organizations in Ottawa, and to show off the tremendous poetry community that we see in Ottawa,” he said

The festival also serves to bring in poets from elsewhere, and highlight the different styles that are prominent around the world.

“It’s a pretty cool thing,” Reid said. “It’s a chance bring those poets to Ottawa and show them our city, but also a chance for those who attend our festival to see some of the top poets in the world.”

Spoken word poet Jamaal Jackson Rogers, whose stage name is JustJamaal The Poet, agreed.

“From page to stage, VERSeFest is the only festival in the city that brings together all three spoken-word communities — local, national and international.”

On the festival’s closing night, Rogers was one of two performers awarded the title of poet laureate of the City of Ottawa. Andrée Lacelle — an award-winning poet and promoter of French-language literature — joined him in that distinction.

Rogers and Lacelle were the first to earn the title since 1990, when the city abandoned the program. This year, it was resurrected in partnership with VERSe Ottawa. The winners each received an honorarium of $5,000.

For Rogers and others in the poetry community, poetry is a kind of first language.

“(It’s) a way to put my truth into a story,” he said. “Whether that’s through prose, verse, songwriting techniques, even page poetry, I combine them all into a presentation. It is my way to communicate and share the way I view the world, and VERSeFest is a great platform for that.”

The festival is a celebration of poetry and those who create it, he added.

For many, however, VERSeFest was more than just a chance to perform in front of an audience.

VERSeFest provides artists and community publications a chance to promote their craft, something Reid said is important for local artists to interact with their fans. He added that merchandise tables were available “so people can get new poetry,” as well as “CDs, T-shirts, magazines, smaller publications like zines.”

Reid said VERSeFest serves as a sort of emissary to provide festivalgoers with poets they wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to see on their own.

This year’s festival featured Acadian poet and French-language activist Zachary Richard. The Louisiana native was scheduled to work in both languages, and was expected to bring out many francophone poetry fans.

“To me, VERSeFest is a way to display, celebrate, and elevate all of the artists in these communities,” Rogers said. “It’s a highlight of page, performance and spoken-word poetry.”

Artemysia Fragiskatos, an organizer with VERSeFest, expressed pride in the diversity of talent showcased at the festival each year. “There’s a different vibe at each event during the festival. Each show has its own personality, and a different demographic. We have a slam night, a showcase, a women’s’ and non-binary night, among other events.”

Fragiskatos got involved with VERSeFest as the host of a poetry show called “Words to Live By,” which showcases up-and-coming artists who may not have an opportunity to perform in a large festival setting.

“It’s really gratifying to see artists from all over Canada, who may not have ever had the chance to perform together, sharing a stage. You get to work with people you wouldn’t typically get to work with.”

For Fragiskatos, VERSeFest is an outlet for anyone to tell a story, in whatever way they choose to tell it. “Being able to really open up, where everybody can share their story in their own way, that’s what’s special about spoken word. That’s how it differs from page poetry, and other forms of poetry. It’s the truest expression, I think.”