Are you the next Maya Angelou in the making? This month, the City of Mississauga is offering a number of in-person and online programs to celebrate Poetry Month. You’re invited to attend a poetry slam, participate in a poetry contest, sign up for an author talk or join one of our Poet Laureates in a poetry-themed workshop.

Poetry Month Activities:

Call for Poetry

The New Youth Council is launching a poetry anthology, Serene Seas, and we want to celebrate with you! Share a poem or submit a work of art that features poetry before April 23 for a chance to be featured in an exhibition during National Youth Week taking place May 1 to 7.

Poetry Contest

We’re calling all poets to send us your best original poem. The Mississauga Poet Laureates and Library staff are looking for uniqueness, creativity, attention to detail and overall impact when selecting winners.

Poems can be submitted to library.programs@mississauga.ca and will be accepted until Sunday, April 30. Make sure to check the submission details and contest rules before submitting. May the best poem win!

Poetry Slam

Join us at the fourth annual Poetry Slam on Wednesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. This in-person competition will take place at the Living Arts Centre in the Roger’s Theatre. Register in advance to watch young literary talents in the community perform poetry and spoken word original submissions.

Share Your Poem

Share your favourite poem or create a new one for others to read and add it to one of the display boards at any library location throughout April.

Online Author Talk with Madhur Anand
Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at 7 p.m.

This virtual talk is geared towards teens and adults and will feature author, Madhur Anand, winner of the 2020 Governor General’s Award for Nonfiction and a Quill and Quire’s book-of-the-year. Her book, This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart, weaves together the poetry of memory with the science of embodied trauma. Her latest book, Parasitic Oscillations, was a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book and a CBC Top Pick for Spring Poetry.

Events:

Online Poetry Workshop for Teens and Adults
Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 7 p.m.

Meet Mississauga Poet Laureate, Ayomide Bayowa, and participate in a guided workshop on the process of writing poems and short works. Discover take-home strategies and key tools to advance your own writing projects.

Author-Led Haiku Program with Anna Yin
This program is geared towards teens and adults. Led by poet Anna Yin, participants can partake in haiku games, and enjoyable haiku for participants to read and discuss. Attendees are invited to write their own haiku based on their memories or the prompts provided and have the option of attending virtually or in person.

In-person: Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 4 p.m.
Virtual: Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at 7 p.m.

Collaborative Poetry Workshop
Saturday, April 15, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. – Small Arms Inspection Building

Youth and young adults aged 14 to 24 are invited to join Mississauga’s third Youth Poet Laureate, Qurat Dar, in a collaborative poetry-writing workshop. Together, participants will create a large-scale poetry piece that will be installed at the Small Arms Inspection Building for National Youth Week.

For more information about Poetry Month in Mississauga, visit mississauga.ca/poetry-month