Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is an annual festival produced by Spoken Word Canada
and planned by a local Festival Organizing Committee in each host city.
There have been seven festivals -- the inaugural 2004 gathering in Ottawa, Ontario (called the Canadian Spoken Wordlympics), CFSW 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, CFSW 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, CFSW 2007 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, CFSW 2008 in Calgary, Alberta, CFSW 2009 in Victoria, British Columbia
and CFSW 2010 in Ottawa, Ontario. Future festivals are in the planning stages for 2011 in Toronto, Ontario and 2012 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The CFSW has become the flagship event for poetry slam in Canada, and is evolving to better represent the full spectrum of spoken word
nationally.
in the United States and envisioned a similar poetry slam event for Canada drawing national and international attention. The founders of the festival decided the first event should be held in Ottawa in fall 2004. An organizing team was pulled together and another large successful application was made to the Canada Council for the Arts for financial support for the four-day event.
The festival also honoured the poetic contributions of acclaimed African-Canadian poet and playwright George Elliott Clarke
.
Slam teams representing Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax and Winnipeg participated in the first team championship competition, with the Vancouver 1 team of Shane Koyczan
, C.R. Avery, Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod emerging victorious. McLeod was also the victor in the individual slam competition, thereby becoming to date the only person ever crowned Canadian Individual Slam Champion.
At a meeting of city representatives held during the Wordlympics, Vancouver was selected as the site for the 2005 festival. However, the event was renamed the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in its second year because of concerns about copyright conflict with the 2010 Winter Olympics Games.
The cities of Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg and two Vancouver teams competed in the slam competition. Vancouver 2 featuring Patrick Swan, Magpie Ulysses, T.L. Groves, and Kim Shaughnessy, took the finals win, retaining the championship for the home city for the second year in a row.
The “poet of honour” award was also introduced in Vancouver. Dwayne Morgan, Canadian Urban Music Award-winning poet, and Sheri-D Wilson, director of the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, were the first Poets of Honour. They were invited to perform feature sets during the festival.
The Poets of Honour were Lillian Allen, Juno award-winning dub poet, and Shane Koyczan, the first non-American to win the U.S. National Poetry Slam.
Eight cities entered teams into the slam competition – Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, Calgary, Montreal and Windsor – though Windsor and Montreal ended up withdrawing from the competition. The slam went ahead with seven teams when a second Toronto team was added at the last minute. The hastily assembled Toronto 2 team performed extremely well, narrowly losing in the team finals to team Vancouver featuring RC Weslowski, Patrick Swan, Nora Smithhisler and Magpie Ulysses. This enabled the defending champions to win the title for the third consecutive year.
The 2006 Spoken Word Canada annual board meeting in Toronto set CFSW on new course by bestowing the right to host the 2007 festival on Halifax and inviting Calgary to be the host city in 2008. For future years, Spoken Word Canada decided to award the festival to host cities two years in advance.
On finals night the festival honoured Darek Dawda, one of the festival's founders, and the late Rita Joe, a noted Nova Scotia based Mi'kmaq-Canadian poet and songwriter.
Seven cities were represented in the team slam competition -- Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifax and Toronto (with two teams). After a highly competitive preliminary round and an energized final competition, the home team from Halifax broke Vancouver's winning streak to become the second city to capture the Canadian team championship in the history of CFSW.
The Spoken Word Canada
Board of Directors selected Victoria
as the 2009 host city at its annual meeting.
Twelve teams from across Canada participated in the national slam, including teams from Victoria
, Vancouver
, Calgary
, Ottawa
, Toronto
, Halifax, and Montreal
and the first ever "last chance" team made up of alternate, or fifth members of each participating team. Poets from a Southern Ontario team (representing Peterborough, London and Guelph) and the first ever rural team from Lanark County, Ontario
also competed in the national slam championships.
The Poets of Honour were D.Kimm, noted Quebec-based performance artist and artistic director of Festival Voix d'Amériques in Montreal, and RC Weslowski, longtime Vancouver poetry organizer and performer.
Shortly after the festival concluded, the 2010 festival was awarded to Montreal by electronic vote of the Spoken Word Canada
Board of Directors.
In a tense and closely contested final slam, Halifax became the second city in the history of CFSW to repeat as champions, narrowly defeating Toronto's Up From the Roots team.
, Vancouver
, Calgary
, Ottawa
, Toronto
, Halifax, Montreal
, Lanark County
, London
, Saskatoon
and Winnipeg
. Storm poets were given an opportunity to enter the competition through a Last Chance Slam on the first night of the festival. There were a total of twelve teams in the competition.
Daytime events included workshops, showcase performances by team alternates, themed showcases for Aboriginal, women, queer and Pan-African poets and open mic sessions. There were also late night events after the slams with music, friendly competitions and erotica.
The Poets of Honour were Andrea Thompson, member of the first-ever Canadian slam team to compete at the U.S. National Poetry Slam, and C.R. Avery, member of the first Canadian Slam Champion team from the 2004 Wordlympics.
At finals night, Montreal, Vancouver and the Wildcard Team known as the Slaughterhouse Four were unable to prevent The Recipe (Ottawa) from claiming the championship for the first time.
After Montreal pulled out of hosting the 2010 festival, the Spoken Word Canada
Board of Directors confirmed Ottawa as the replacement host at its annual meeting, and deferred awarding the 2011 festival to a later date by electronic vote.
, Vancouver
, Calgary
, Ottawa
(2 teams), Toronto
(2 teams), Halifax, Montreal
, Lanark County
, London
, Saskatoon
and Winnipeg
returned, while Edmonton
, Guelph
, Burlington
and Peterborough
sent slam teams to the competition for the first time. There was also a Last Chance Slam on the first day of the festival to select a Wild Card Team composed of five storm poets.
Daytime events included workshops, showcase performances by team alternates, themed showcases for francophone artists, youth, nerd poetry and poetry/music fusion, as well as themed open mic sessions at the end of each showcase. There were also late night events after the slams with music and an erotica poetry open mic.
The Poets of Honour were Anthony Bansfield, one of the festival's co-founders, and Shauntay Grant, CFSW 2007 Halifax festival director and a member of the 2008 national champion slam team.
At finals night, Burlington, Montreal, Ottawa Capital Slam and Ottawa Urban Legends competed for the championship. After starting off behind Urban Legends, Ottawa Capital Slam, captained by Chris Tse
, overtook their sister team from the capital city in the second half of the bout to claim their second championship in a row.
Toronto was confirmed as the 2011 host in advance of the annual Spoken Word Canada
Board of Directors meeting held during the festival. At the same meeting, Saskatoon was confirmed as the 2012 host city and the community of Kitchener-Waterloo
was added to the Board, making them eligible to send a team to the 2011 festival.
Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada, also referred to as SpoCan, is an organization of spoken word performers and organizers. Formed from a committee of city representatives at the 2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics in Ottawa, Ontario, SpoCan's mission is to "nurture, develop and advance spoken word artists, the...
and planned by a local Festival Organizing Committee in each host city.
There have been seven festivals -- the inaugural 2004 gathering in Ottawa, Ontario (called the Canadian Spoken Wordlympics), CFSW 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, CFSW 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, CFSW 2007 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, CFSW 2008 in Calgary, Alberta, CFSW 2009 in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
and CFSW 2010 in Ottawa, Ontario. Future festivals are in the planning stages for 2011 in Toronto, Ontario and 2012 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The CFSW has become the flagship event for poetry slam in Canada, and is evolving to better represent the full spectrum of spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
nationally.
Festival History
The Canadian Spoken Wordlympics as an organization was created in 2003 by Darek Dawda and Anthony Bansfield who received support from the Canada Council for the Arts to organize a national showcase of spoken word talent in Canada. They saw the success of the National Poetry SlamNational Poetry Slam
The National Poetry Slam is a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and France participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurs in early August every year and takes place in a different US city....
in the United States and envisioned a similar poetry slam event for Canada drawing national and international attention. The founders of the festival decided the first event should be held in Ottawa in fall 2004. An organizing team was pulled together and another large successful application was made to the Canada Council for the Arts for financial support for the four-day event.
2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics - Ottawa
The inaugural festival, led by Darek Dawda and Oni Joseph, was held at the National Library and Archives in October 2004, and featured several poetry slams held in the evenings, with showcase events and open mics in the afternoons. Several poets from international locations such as France, the U.S., Germany, and the United Kingdom also participated in various facets of the festival. Showcases for women, Aboriginal peoples, urban poets, queer poets and youth were held, and there was a guerrilla reading on the front lawn of the Parliament buildings.The festival also honoured the poetic contributions of acclaimed African-Canadian poet and playwright George Elliott Clarke
George Elliott Clarke
George Elliott Clarke, OC is a Canadian poet and playwright. His work largely explores and chronicles the experience and history of the Black Canadian community of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography that Clarke refers to as "Africadia".-Life:Born to William and Geraldine...
.
Slam teams representing Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax and Winnipeg participated in the first team championship competition, with the Vancouver 1 team of Shane Koyczan
Shane Koyczan
Shane L. Koyczan is a Canadian poet and writer. Born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Koyczan grew up in Penticton, British Columbia. In 2000, he became the first Canadian to win the Individual Championship title at the US National Poetry Slam. Together with Mighty Mike McGee and C. R...
, C.R. Avery, Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod emerging victorious. McLeod was also the victor in the individual slam competition, thereby becoming to date the only person ever crowned Canadian Individual Slam Champion.
At a meeting of city representatives held during the Wordlympics, Vancouver was selected as the site for the 2005 festival. However, the event was renamed the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in its second year because of concerns about copyright conflict with the 2010 Winter Olympics Games.
CFSW 2005 Vancouver
The 2005 festival organizing committee, led by Randy Jacobs/RC Weslowski, took the opportunity to broaden the focus of the event. Open mic events for the evening shows started with a live band jamming with poets reciting improv-style on stage, and feature performers were brought into the evening events. Showcases were held in the afternoons for queer poets, African-Canadian poets, youth and others, while Aboriginal poets, sound poets, storytellers and others performed in the evening slots. The 2005 festival also continued the tradition set the year before of featuring international poets with a contingent from the U.K. doing performances as well. Rob Gee, Steve Larkin, Kat Francois, TUGGStarr and AF Harrold all participated.The cities of Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg and two Vancouver teams competed in the slam competition. Vancouver 2 featuring Patrick Swan, Magpie Ulysses, T.L. Groves, and Kim Shaughnessy, took the finals win, retaining the championship for the home city for the second year in a row.
The “poet of honour” award was also introduced in Vancouver. Dwayne Morgan, Canadian Urban Music Award-winning poet, and Sheri-D Wilson, director of the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, were the first Poets of Honour. They were invited to perform feature sets during the festival.
CFSW 2006 Toronto
The third annual festival took place in Toronto. The festival organizing committee, led by Dwayne Morgan and David Silverberg, took the event one step further by introducing a conference component to the festival. Workshops on recording spoken word CDs, touring, applying for grants and creating team pieces were woven into the afternoon events, along with showcases featuring dub poetry, African-Canadian poetry, queer poets, nerd poets and youth.The Poets of Honour were Lillian Allen, Juno award-winning dub poet, and Shane Koyczan, the first non-American to win the U.S. National Poetry Slam.
Eight cities entered teams into the slam competition – Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, Calgary, Montreal and Windsor – though Windsor and Montreal ended up withdrawing from the competition. The slam went ahead with seven teams when a second Toronto team was added at the last minute. The hastily assembled Toronto 2 team performed extremely well, narrowly losing in the team finals to team Vancouver featuring RC Weslowski, Patrick Swan, Nora Smithhisler and Magpie Ulysses. This enabled the defending champions to win the title for the third consecutive year.
The 2006 Spoken Word Canada annual board meeting in Toronto set CFSW on new course by bestowing the right to host the 2007 festival on Halifax and inviting Calgary to be the host city in 2008. For future years, Spoken Word Canada decided to award the festival to host cities two years in advance.
CFSW 2007 Halifax
The 2007 festival was hosted by the Word Iz Bond Spoken Word Artists' Collective in Halifax. The festival organizing committee, led by Shauntay Grant, incorporated other artistic forms into the festival. Beginning with a showcase called "Halifax in Poetry", the festival showcased poets working with musicians during their performances. There was also a showcase involving youth workshopping their poetry with the assistance of professional jazz artists, and an innovative Poetry Challenge combining spoken word artists, musicians and visual art on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. The festival also included open mic sessions, panel discussions and guerilla poetry readings on the streets of Halifax.On finals night the festival honoured Darek Dawda, one of the festival's founders, and the late Rita Joe, a noted Nova Scotia based Mi'kmaq-Canadian poet and songwriter.
Seven cities were represented in the team slam competition -- Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifax and Toronto (with two teams). After a highly competitive preliminary round and an energized final competition, the home team from Halifax broke Vancouver's winning streak to become the second city to capture the Canadian team championship in the history of CFSW.
The Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada, also referred to as SpoCan, is an organization of spoken word performers and organizers. Formed from a committee of city representatives at the 2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics in Ottawa, Ontario, SpoCan's mission is to "nurture, develop and advance spoken word artists, the...
Board of Directors selected Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
as the 2009 host city at its annual meeting.
CFSW 2008 Calgary
The 2008 festival was hosted by Sheri-D Wilson, the 2005 Poet of Honour and the main organizer of the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival. The model for the festival was now firmly established and the Calgary festival organizing committee maintained it -- showcases, guerrilla poetry, professional development workshops and the national slam championship were all facets of the fifth festival event.Twelve teams from across Canada participated in the national slam, including teams from Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Halifax, and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and the first ever "last chance" team made up of alternate, or fifth members of each participating team. Poets from a Southern Ontario team (representing Peterborough, London and Guelph) and the first ever rural team from Lanark County, Ontario
Lanark County, Ontario
Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. As of 2006, the population is 63,785. Its county seat is Perth.The county took its name from the town of Lanark in Scotland.-Geography:...
also competed in the national slam championships.
The Poets of Honour were D.Kimm, noted Quebec-based performance artist and artistic director of Festival Voix d'Amériques in Montreal, and RC Weslowski, longtime Vancouver poetry organizer and performer.
Shortly after the festival concluded, the 2010 festival was awarded to Montreal by electronic vote of the Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada, also referred to as SpoCan, is an organization of spoken word performers and organizers. Formed from a committee of city representatives at the 2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics in Ottawa, Ontario, SpoCan's mission is to "nurture, develop and advance spoken word artists, the...
Board of Directors.
In a tense and closely contested final slam, Halifax became the second city in the history of CFSW to repeat as champions, narrowly defeating Toronto's Up From the Roots team.
CFSW 2009 Victoria
The festival returned to the west coast in 2009 and was hosted by the Tongues of Fire poetry collective. The festival organizing committee was directed by former Victoria Slam Team member Steven J. Thompson. The festival in Victoria saw a then-record eleven communities represented in the national slam: VictoriaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Halifax, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Lanark County
Lanark County, Ontario
Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. As of 2006, the population is 63,785. Its county seat is Perth.The county took its name from the town of Lanark in Scotland.-Geography:...
, London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. Storm poets were given an opportunity to enter the competition through a Last Chance Slam on the first night of the festival. There were a total of twelve teams in the competition.
Daytime events included workshops, showcase performances by team alternates, themed showcases for Aboriginal, women, queer and Pan-African poets and open mic sessions. There were also late night events after the slams with music, friendly competitions and erotica.
The Poets of Honour were Andrea Thompson, member of the first-ever Canadian slam team to compete at the U.S. National Poetry Slam, and C.R. Avery, member of the first Canadian Slam Champion team from the 2004 Wordlympics.
At finals night, Montreal, Vancouver and the Wildcard Team known as the Slaughterhouse Four were unable to prevent The Recipe (Ottawa) from claiming the championship for the first time.
After Montreal pulled out of hosting the 2010 festival, the Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada, also referred to as SpoCan, is an organization of spoken word performers and organizers. Formed from a committee of city representatives at the 2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics in Ottawa, Ontario, SpoCan's mission is to "nurture, develop and advance spoken word artists, the...
Board of Directors confirmed Ottawa as the replacement host at its annual meeting, and deferred awarding the 2011 festival to a later date by electronic vote.
CFSW 2010 Ottawa
The most recent edition of the festival saw CFSW return to the city where it began. The organizing committee, formed largely from members of the Capital Poetry Collective, was led by festival director Nathanaël Larochette. Two new records were set in Ottawa - most communities represented in the slam (15) and largest number of slam teams in the national finals (18). VictoriaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
(2 teams), Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
(2 teams), Halifax, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Lanark County
Lanark County, Ontario
Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. As of 2006, the population is 63,785. Its county seat is Perth.The county took its name from the town of Lanark in Scotland.-Geography:...
, London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
returned, while Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
, Burlington
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington , is a city located in Halton Region at the western end of Lake Ontario. Burlington is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is also included in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. Physically, Burlington lies between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment...
and Peterborough
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
sent slam teams to the competition for the first time. There was also a Last Chance Slam on the first day of the festival to select a Wild Card Team composed of five storm poets.
Daytime events included workshops, showcase performances by team alternates, themed showcases for francophone artists, youth, nerd poetry and poetry/music fusion, as well as themed open mic sessions at the end of each showcase. There were also late night events after the slams with music and an erotica poetry open mic.
The Poets of Honour were Anthony Bansfield, one of the festival's co-founders, and Shauntay Grant, CFSW 2007 Halifax festival director and a member of the 2008 national champion slam team.
At finals night, Burlington, Montreal, Ottawa Capital Slam and Ottawa Urban Legends competed for the championship. After starting off behind Urban Legends, Ottawa Capital Slam, captained by Chris Tse
Chris Tse
Chris Tse is a Canadian spoken word poet of Chinese descent. He has won numerous poetry slam competitions and was the former captain of the Capital Slam team that won the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word championship....
, overtook their sister team from the capital city in the second half of the bout to claim their second championship in a row.
Toronto was confirmed as the 2011 host in advance of the annual Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada
Spoken Word Canada, also referred to as SpoCan, is an organization of spoken word performers and organizers. Formed from a committee of city representatives at the 2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics in Ottawa, Ontario, SpoCan's mission is to "nurture, develop and advance spoken word artists, the...
Board of Directors meeting held during the festival. At the same meeting, Saskatoon was confirmed as the 2012 host city and the community of Kitchener-Waterloo
Regional Municipality of Waterloo
The Regional Municipality of Waterloo is a regional municipality located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It consists of the cities of Kitchener, Cambridge, and Waterloo, and the townships of Wellesley, Woolwich, Wilmot, and North Dumfries. It is often referred to as the Region of Waterloo or just...
was added to the Board, making them eligible to send a team to the 2011 festival.
Future Festivals
The eighth annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word will take place in Toronto, Ontario from October 11 to 15, 2011 under the leadership of CFSW 2011 Toronto festival director David Silverberg of the Toronto Poetry Project. The festival organizing committee for CFSW 2012 Saskatoon will be led by Charles Hamilton, executive director of the Tonight It's Poetry weekly poetry series.See also
- Spoken Word CanadaSpoken Word CanadaSpoken Word Canada, also referred to as SpoCan, is an organization of spoken word performers and organizers. Formed from a committee of city representatives at the 2004 Canadian Spoken Wordlympics in Ottawa, Ontario, SpoCan's mission is to "nurture, develop and advance spoken word artists, the...
- Calgary International Spoken Word FestivalCalgary International Spoken Word FestivalThe Calgary Spoken Word Festival is a Canadian festival which promotes spoken word. Spoken word draws heavily on the oral tradition and encompasses such genres as jazz, dub, hip-hop, folk, slam and storytelling poets or poetry...
- Festival Voix d'AmériquesFestival Voix d'AmériquesFestival Voix d’Amériques is an annual festival in Montreal since 2002 that is dedicated to oral literature, text performance and spoken word...