Sheri-D Wilson | |
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Occupation | poet, educator, instigator, speaker, producer |
Nationality | Canadian |
Literary movement | Dada, Surrealism, Spoken word |
Website | |
www |
Sheri-D Wilson, CM [1] D. Litt, [2] (also known as "The Mama of Dada") [3] is a Canadian poet, performer, educator, speaker, and producer. [4] She is the author of fourteen books, four short films, three plays, and four poetry & music albums.
Sheri-D's latest work, THE ONEIRONAUT∅1, was published in 2024 by Write Bloody North. It is the first volume in a three-book one-story trilogy of speculative poetry, which explores extreme lucid dreaming, dream healing, and a call for a change in a dystopian regime.
Her work has received many awards and honors. In 2019 Sheri-D was appointed to The Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honors, for her contributions as a Spoken Word Poet and her leadership in the community. [1] She is Poet Laureate Emeritus of Calgary (2018-2020). [5] In 2017, she received her Doctor of Letters—Honoris Causa from Kwantlen University. [2] Also,
A strong advocate for social change and community building in Sheri-D Wilson founded The Spoken Word Program at The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She was director and faculty of that program (2005-2012). [6] At which time Tanya Evanson took over as director of the program. Sheri-D Wilson also edited The Spoken Word Workbook: Inspiration from Poets who Teach in 2011 (CSWS/BCP), an educational tool for teaching and writing Spoken Word. [7]
In 2012, she was featured in Chatelaine Magazine, in a story about the creative mind. A regular on CBC, [8] In 2013, she was interviewed by Canadian icon Sheilah Rogers. In 2011 she was honored to be presented by The National Slam of Canada in “Legends of Spoken Word.” In 2009 CBC called her one of the Top 10 Poets in Canada. In 2003 she won the USA Heavyweight title for poetry, and in 2006 The National Slam of Canada presented her with the Poet of Honour Award. Of the beat tradition, in 1989 Sheri-D studied at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, in Boulder, Colorado.
Her influences include Guillaume Apollinaire, T.S. Eliot, Diane di Prima, Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg. [9]
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Angela "Angie" Abdou is a Canadian writer of fiction and nonfiction.
Ivan E. Coyote is a Canadian spoken word performer, writer, and LGBT advocate. Coyote has won many accolades for their collections of short stories, novels, and films. They also visit schools to tell stories and give writing workshops. The CBC has called Coyote a "gender-bending author who loves telling stories and performing in front of a live audience." Coyote is non-binary and uses singular they pronouns. Many of Coyote's stories are about gender, identity, and social justice. Coyote currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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Orunamamu was an American/Canadian professional storyteller, raconteur and griot. Her peripatetic storytelling led her on extensive, demanding and often impromptu journeys across the United States including Alaska, overseas to the United Kingdom and Egypt and finally to Canada. She is included in a number of books, journals, articles and two documentaries. Her performance medium was the spoken voice in performances to audiences. For Orunamamu storytelling became her cause as well as her art form, because "[s]torytelling demonstrates the humanity in every culture." Orunamamu died in Calgary, Alberta on 4 September 2014 at the age of 93. She was booked to perform at the Calgary Spoken Word Festival in the summer of 2014. Orunamamu has been the subject of countless portraits over many decades and in many countries, including photographers such as Arthur Koch (Oakland), Kenneth Locke (Calgary) and Jim Hair. Many of these are shared through social media.
Micheline Maylor is a Canadian poet, academic, critic and editor.
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Jillian Christmas is a Canadian poet from Vancouver, British Columbia. Her work focuses on anti-colonial narratives, family, heritage, and identity. She is most noted as the 2021 winner of the League of Canadian Poets' Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for spoken word poetry. Furthermore, she has represented both Vancouver and Toronto at 11 national poetry events and was the first Canadian to make the final stage at the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
This is a list of Municipal Poets Laureate in Alberta, Canada.