Edmonton Poetry Festival celebrates its 20th birthday
"The lovely thing about it is, you don't need equipment. There's no [barrier] to entry, as long as the world is prepared to listen," the festival's founder says.
ALEXIS MARIE CHUTEAlice Major, a prominent local poet and longtime Edmonton resident, believes that poetry is “not [just] one thing, [but] many things.” Major takes this perspective in all aspects of her work, but she feels it especially shines through at the Edmonton Poetry Festival (EPF).
Major was Edmonton’s first poet laureate back in 2005. When tasked with coming up with a legacy project for her position, someone suggested the idea of a poetry festival to her.
“There was a lot of interest from the city … in promoting [the] arts and having festivals [in] Edmonton,” she explained. “I also knew there was a real appetite in the [poetry] community itself.”
Now, 20 years later, the festival is celebrating a landmark anniversary and thriving more than ever. Featuring dozens of authors and artists, the festival celebrates poetry from all walks of life. Major emphasized diversity as a key aspect of the festival. She highlighted the growing Indigenous presence in the programming, noting poets such as Anna Marie Sewell and Marilyn Dumont. Both women have been working with Major and EPF since its founding.
The image for the festival this year is the High Level Magpie, a mural of a magpie on the wall of the Highlevel Diner painted by local artist Ashley Rosenow. The image helps showcase the work of local artists, and the magpie has a deeper meaning for Major. She explained that the magpie represents someone loud, who is heard, and who perseveres through the tough times. The magpie has been part of the festival’s logo since 2017.
“Language is our human birthright,” Major says
In discussing the diversity of the festival, Major commented on how they can continue to welcome and accommodate poem lovers of all different backgrounds. The new executive director, Steve Pirot, is interested in featuring more poetry in languages other than English. They are also looking into resources that would make the festival more accessible to those who are hearing impaired. It is very important to Major that poetry is accessible to everyone in a way that works for them.
“Language is our human birthright. To play with language goes so deep in the roots of our … species.”
Major discussed the beauty of poetry as an accessible, universal art form. “The lovely thing about it is, you don’t need equipment. There’s no [barrier] to entry, as long as the world is prepared to listen.”
“You can use poetry to address just about every aspect of human experience,” Major said. For her, poetry can be anything and say anything. She emphasized her interest in science when it comes to her own work, but noted that every poet has their own inspiration and their own message to convey.
“Poetry is no one thing, so I can do what I do, and know there’s a space for it. What I do doesn’t have to be what everybody else does.”
The Edmonton Poetry Festival started on April 2, and will run until April 27. You can check out the event calendar here.
