How to Read a Poem
Event Details
Date and Time
Friday, September 19, 2025
12:00 – 1:00 pm
Venue
Rideau Room
Kingston Marriott (directions)
Author
Event Description
Do you blanch at the sight of lines that don’t stretch all the way across the page? Back away from language as condensed and taut as an uncracked seed?
What is narrative poetry? Prose poetry? Lyric poetry? Shaped poetry? Do you have to be a poet to understand it all?
Certainly not! For those who are curious about poetry, but don’t know where or how to begin, noted poet and dynamic presenter Paul Vermeersch shows the way. He deconstructs the basic poetic forms, welcoming readers into a fascinating landscape of stanzas, rhythm, and rhyme.
Never again will you flee from the sight of a villanelle.
More Events
Resistance and Refuge
Madeleine Thien’s Book of Records casts a
curious girl and her secretive father in a
speculative fable of migration. Uncertain of
any future, the child is rescued by books,
migrants’ tales, and fragments of famous
past lives. Canisia Lubrin’s debut novel,
which won the 2025 Carol Shields Prize,
is rooted in the Code Noir of 1685 that
governed slavery and shaped the modern
world. Her diverse characters from the past,
present and future, struggle to live free of
history.
What We Carry
A profound and stylistically daring debut novel from an accomplished poet, We, the Kindling maps the terrain of brutality and survival, suffusing the worlds of these girls and women with an unforgettable humanity.
Stories narrated by six fictional women give voice to the real-life victims of a reign of child kidnappings that terrorized Uganda for decades. Many did not return; those who did bore the weight of unspeakable burdens to family and communities that preferred to look away.
Projections and Reflections
Event DetailsFriday, September 19, 20251:30 - 3:00 pmLimestone City BallroomKingston Marriott...