Words Aloud 2024

Hello friends and fans of live poetry! We hope you are having a wonderful summer.

After our wildly successful 2023 events, Words Aloud would like to announce an important change. While our mandate, vision, and top-flight programming will all stay the same, we have decided to move to a biennial model – that is, we will present the festival every other year, starting in 2025. This will allow us to better allocate decreasing resources and maximize our ability to punch above our weight as one of the best literary festivals around.

The biennial model also allows for a range of satellite events held in the interstices between festivals. For example, in conjunction with the Durham Art Gallery and the Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film, we presented three outstanding poets for a day of verse on Saturday, July 20, 2024: Rocco de Giacomo, John O'Neill, and Tanis MacDonald. Our emcee was Owen Sound Poet Laureate for 2024-25 Rebecca Diem. Turnout was great, though we had to compete with the beautiful weather.

Words Aloud is always on the lookout for committee members and volunteers. Committee members meet as needed to plan and execute the festival. Previous committee experience is an asset but by no means necessary. All you need is an interest in the arts and a few hours a week during festival season. We are also looking for volunteers to help with running events, especially folks who can transport poets to and from venues, or billet them, or help with logistics, food, room set-up and decoration. If you are interested, please contact me here.

We invite you all to our events, and be sure to check here as information is liable to change.

All the best, and have a great summer!

Richard-Yves Sitoski