Join us from Thursday night to Sunday evening in Calgary’s Inglewood neighbourhood for the Stroll of Poets Festival 2026 with the Calgary Spoken Word Society’s Wise Women: Magic Words (and special Youth Programming at Little Red Reading House)! Over the course of four days, we will have open mics, curated readings, special showcases, and more. As always, there will be a mix of free & ticketed events for everyone to enjoy.
The Stroll of Poets is a non-profit organization that was first based in Edmonton after being founded in 1991. Shortly afterwards, a Calgary Stroll of Poets was created as well. In its first 15 years of operation, the organization ran an annual one-day multi-venue performance poetry festival that took place in both Calgary and Edmonton. In recent years, the annual festival has been replaced by a monthly reading series in Edmonton. This year’s festival is taking place in Calgary at various venues in the Inglewood area. This is the 3nd annual Stroll of Poets Festival in Calgary.
The Calgary Spoken Word Society was created in November 2003 by poet Sheri-D Wilson. Influenced by its founder’s passion, the Society’s vision is to develop a forum for the dissemination and promotion of Spoken Word Poetry locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, through performance and education.
We will also have a limited number of Festival Programs on site.
Please note that the schedule is subject to change. Check back here for the latest updates.
| 9:45 AM MT - 11:15 AM MT | Hosted by Bob Stallworthy Esker Foundation 1011 9th Ave SE, 4th Floor | |||
| 10:00 AM MT - 11:15 AM MT | Hosted by David M. Rosso Coffee Roasters 1402 9th Ave SE |
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| 10:00 AM MT 11:30 PM MT | (8-12 Years Old) Maria Marianayagam Little Red Reading House 922 8th Ave SE |
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| 11:00 AM MT - 12:30 PM MT | WÂHTAMAWIK: Tell Them Lousie Bernice Halfe - Sky Dancer Festival Hall 1215 10th Ave SE Doors at 10:00 AM MT | |||
| 11:15 AM MT - 12:45 PM MT | Single Onion Rosso Coffee Roasters 1402 9th Ave SE |
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| 1:00 PM MT - 3:00 PM MT | Anne Waldman Talk Dharma Gaze Festival Hall 1215 10th Ave SE | Festival Hall Doors at 12:00 PM MT 1215 10th Ave SE |
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| 1:00 PM MT - 2:00 PM MT | Reading & Talk Jennifer Stables Little Red Reading House 922 8th Ave SE |
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| 2:45 PM MT - 4:00 PM MT | Hosted by Taylor S. Madi's 12|12 1212 9th Ave SE | |||
| 3:00 PM MT - 4:30 PM MT | (13-16 Years Old) Sue-Shane Tsomondo Little Red Reading House 922 8th Ave SE |
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| 3:15 PM MT - 4:15 PM MT | Festival Hall 1215 10th Ave SE |
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| 4:00 PM MT - 5:15 PM MT | Hosted by the Stroll of Poets Society Madi's 12|12 1212 9th Ave SE | |||
| 4:30 PM MT - 5:30 PM MT | hosted by Sue-Shane Tsomondo Little Red Reading House 922 8th Ave SE |
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| 4:30 PM MT - 5:45 PM MT | Hosted by OMA The Next Page 1217A 9th Ave SE |
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| 5:30 PM MT - 6:45 PM MT | Hosted by Adrienne A. Rosso Coffee Roasters 1402 9th Ave SE | |||
| 7:00 PM MT - 9:00 PM MT | Collectors' Gallery of Art 1332 9th Ave SE | |||
| 8:00 PM MT - 11:00 PM MT | Festival Hall 1215 10th Ave SE Doors at 7:00 PM MT | Dancing Festival Hall 1215 10th Ave SE Doors at 7:00 PM MT |
The Inglewood Community in Calgary has an abundance of shops, restaurants, and services in a pedestrian-friendly setting. There are ongoing improvements and construction to the area and parking is available around the area, so we suggest arriving early to give yourself time to get around and take any detours as required.
Thursday, September 17, 2026
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM MT
The Collectors’ Gallery of Art
1332 9th Ave SE
Featuring: Ashley-Rae Carter-Wells, Bertrand Bickersteth, Cobra Collins, Dan Poitras, Francis Willey, and Mary Vlooswyk
…and musical guests PoëThree!
Saturday, September 19, 2026
9:45 AM – 11:15 AM MT
Bookshop at Esker
1011 9th Avenue SE, 4th Floor
Featuring: Weyman Chan, Rosemary Griebel, Vivian Hansen, Richard Harrison, Cecelia Frey, Juleta Severson-Baker, and Roberta Rees
Saturday, September 19, 2026
4:00 PM – 5:15 PM MT
Madison 12|12
1212 9th Ave SE
Featuring: Arsh Kaur, Peter Midgley, Katharine Weinmann, Kathie Sutherland, and Janis Dow Durin. Hosted by Kathy Fisher.
Sunday, September 20, 2026
11:15 AM – 12:30 PM MT
Rosso Coffee Roasters
1402 9th Ave SE
Featuring: Beth Everest, Erin Dingle, Kat Dorian, and Vivian Hansen
Sunday, September 20, 2026
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM
The Next Page
1217A 9th Ave SE
Featuring: Ziga Poromon, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Merchant of Poetry, and Jess Martin-Sheardown
There will be three open mics at the Festival this year. Participants must sign up at the link below in advance in order to participate. Please let us know if you are unable to make it, as slots fill up quickly.
September 19, 2026
2:45 PM – 4:00 PM MT
Madi’s 12|12
1212 9th Ave SE
September 19, 2026
5:30 PM – 6:45 PM MT
Rosso Coffee Roasters
1402 9th Ave SE
September 20, 2026
10:00 AM – 11:15 AM MT
Rosso Coffee Roasters
1402 9th Ave SE
The Stroll of Poets Festival is excited to partner with the Calgary Spoken Word Society’s Wise Women: Magic Words events this year!
From the Calgary Spoken Word Society:
Wise Women: Magic Words is a celebration of the feminine divine – a gathering of fierce and luminous voices, each one held in high spirit. Come join these remarkable humans who have helped shape new worlds of poetry, story, song, and light dancing.
Featuring: Ashley Frerichs, Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer, Clara A. B. Joseph, Alystyre Julian, Skylar Kay, Dr. Micheline Maylor, Susan Musgrave, Sandi Somers, Shone Thistle, Anne Waldman, and Sheri-D Wilson. This year’s band will be the Wandering V’s.
All events are presented with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. This will be 4 days of non-stop magic. Please get your tix ahead of time. Tickets are all by donation, at the Event links below.
September 18, 2026
8:00 PM MT (Doors at 7:00 PM MT)
Festival Hall
1215 10th Avenue SE
Calgary
Featuring: Clara A.B. Joseph, Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer, Sheri-D Wilson, Anne Waldman
September 19, 2026
11:00 AM MT (Doors at 10:00 AM MT)
Festival Hall
1215 10th Avenue SE
Calgary
Featuring: Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer
September 19, 2026
1:00 PM MT (Doors at 12:00 PM MT)
Festival Hall
1215 10th Avenue SE
Calgary
Featuring: Anne Waldman
September 19, 2026
8:00 PM MT (Doors at 7:00 PM MT)
Festival Hall
1215 10th Avenue SE
Calgary
Featuring: Skylar Kay, Micheline Maylor, Susan Musgrave, and Shone Thistle with music by The Wandering V’s.
September 20, 2026
1:00 PM MT (Doors at 12:00 PM MT)
Festival Hall
1215 10th Avenue SE
Calgary
Short Film Premier: The Barcelona Bakery of No-Return (written by Sheri-D Wilson, directed by Sandi Somers).
Feature Documentary: Outrider: Anne Waldman (a film by Alystyre Julian).
September 20, 2026
3:15 PM
Festival Hall
1215 10th Avenue SE
Calgary
On Sunday, September 20 are excited to offer youth programming out of Calgary’s Little Red Reading House! Little Red Reading House is a place where children discover the magic of reading and families discover the joy of reading together.
All events at Little Red Reading House will be free of charge but registration is required as space is limited. All materials will be provided.
What is Little Red Reading House? It’s a real house full of books, in the charming neighbourhood of Inglewood in Calgary, Alberta, that families can visit to explore the magic of reading!
September 20, 2026
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM MT
LITTLE RED READING HOUSE
922 8th Ave SE
Calgary
Free | Registration Required Here
What happens when an engineer decides to become a children’s author? You get a workshop filled with physics, poetry, wordplay, and a whole lot of creativity! Inspired by her book, The Amazing Power of Girls, author and former engineer Maria Marianayagam shares her journey from engineering to writing in this workshop and gives participants a behind-the-scenes look at how books are created. Workshop participants will explore the forces of physics featured in the book, discover how authors brainstorm and develop ideas, and enjoy a lively read-aloud. Then, they’ll become poets themselves, dissecting the book’s use of diction, double entendres, and personification before working in teams to create their own personification poems. No engineering or poetry experience required—just curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to play with wordsScien!
September 20, 2026
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM MT
LITTLE RED READING HOUSE
922 8th Ave SE
Calgary
Free | Registration Required Here
Seeding Readers was initiated by the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale with funding support from Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown. As part of this initiative, a new picture book, written by a local author and illustrated by a local artist, is published every year. There are three picture books currently in the Seeding Readers Collection: The Teeth of the Lion, written by Barry Thorsen and illustrated by Jennifer Dale Stables; Book Bus Magic written by Patricia L. Atchinson and illustrated by the Seeding Readers Crew lead by Jennifer Dale Stables, and Tears Are Good written by Jaclyn Brown and illustrated by Jennifer Dale Stables. As the lead illustrator of all three Seeding Readers books, Jennifer Dale Stables will read from the books in this showcase, share what it takes to bring a book into the world, and lead participants in an illustration activity.
September 20, 2026
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM MT
LITTLE RED READING HOUSE
922 8th Ave SE
Calgary
Free | Register Required Here
September 20, 2026
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM MT
LITTLE RED READING HOUSE
922 8th Ave SE
Calgary
Free | Register for a Spot Here
Young writers ages 18 and under are invited to read at our open mic to end our youth events for the evening! Bring your work from earlier or stop by to share your masterpiece in progress with us.
Adrienne Adams (she/her) is a queer poet, writer, artist, curator, herb nerd and gardener living and breathing in Treaty 7, dedicated to creating braver inter-sectional space to honour the feminine. Her publications include The Polyglot, Poetry Pause, The Prairie Journal, filling Station, Herizons, Antilang, FreeFall, NewForum, NōD, Fire Season III anthology, (M)othering anthology (Inanna Press), YYC POP and her chapbook Red Heads by above/ground Press. She founded the reading series Woolf’s Voices in 2013. www.woolfsvoices.com. You can find more of her work at adrienneadamsartandpoetry.com
Taylor Stasila is a Calgary-based spoken word poet whose work explores the relationship between the personal and the world around us. Drawing inspiration from nature, politics, spirituality, and everyday life, her writing touches on themes of energy, consumption, self-discovery, and hope. Taylor holds a BA in English and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary. She has been featured at Poetry Parlour, JubeFest, the Alcove’s Featured Artist Showcases, the Arusha Centre’s Moving Mountains Climate Confluences, and Indie YYC’s online reading series.
David Martin has published four collections of poetry, including Tar Swan (NeWest Press, 2018), Kink Bands (NeWest Press, 2023), and Limited Verse, (University of Calgary Press, 2024). His work has been awarded the CBC Poetry Prize and was included in Best Canadian Poetry 2025 (Biblioasis). His most recent collection, nightstead, was published by Palimpsest Press in 2026.
Cecelia Frey was born in northern Alberta, grew up in Edmonton, and now lives in Calgary. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Alberta and an M.A. in English from the University of Calgary. An editor, teacher, and freelance writer, she has long been active in Calgary’s literary community. Her poetry, short fiction, essays, reviews, and articles have appeared widely in journals, newspapers, and anthologies and have been broadcast on CBC Radio. Her novel, A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing, was shortlisted for the 2009 George Bugnet Fiction Award. She is a three-time WGA Short Fiction Award recipient and has also won playwriting awards.
Daniel Poitras, a half-breed poet from the Paul First Nation, writes vicious Native poetry. He has been published in the Home and Away anthology 2009, The Malahat Review, Grain Magazine, featured reader in the Olive Reading series and included in the Edmonton Poetry Festival’s Poetry Moves on Transit program. And solely responsible for Dapper Dan and the Whole Damn Boondoggle.
Chimedum Ohaegbu resides in Moh’kinstsis (Calgary). She is a three-time Hugo Award winner, and Room Magazine’s managing editor. Her work can be found in Arc Poetry Magazine, the Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Vol.3, and As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, among others. She has been supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts to work on her first novel.
Ziga Poromon is an Irish-Nigerian-Canadian actor, poet, and writer who is passionate about performing and entertaining audiences. She has written for musical artists, various websites and blogs, and short films. Ziga has won two Calgary poetry slams, and has more than 5 years of experience performing in theatre, piano, film, TV, and commercials.
The Merchant of Poetry is a slam poet and fiction writer from Calgary, Alberta. She began writing and performing in 2018, when her close friend bullied her into joining her high school slam team. Now she is a 2 time finalist of the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, A youth slam coach, a member of the Woolf’s Voices Artist Collective, and a passionate member of the Canadian spoken word scene. Most of her work is epistolary, exploring themes of feminism, butch identity, love and spite.
Ashley-Rae creates poetry, prose, paintings, and photographs on Alberta’s oldest working ranch in treaty 7 territory. Her work has appeared in several print and online publications including The F-Word, Freefall, and Arc Poetry. She explores motherhood, witchcraft, slutdom, ecofeminism and power in her art in contribution to exterminating patriarchy.
Iheoma “Oma is Loud” Uzomba is a performance poet and interdiscilinary storyteller. Her writing has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Rattle Magazine, Palette Poetry, The Chestnut Review, The Shore Poetry and other journals, earning honours such as the Glenna Luschei Award for Poetry (2025) and the Lagos–London Poetry Prize (2022). She is the 2026 Canadian Poetry Slam Nationals champ and a Poetry Translation Centre (UK) Undertow Fellow. Her poetry-theatre production, Pretty Dangerous: Four Acts on Womanhood, premiered at the Calgary Central Library in March 2026.
Jess Martin-Sheardown is a Calgary-based poet whose work exists at the intersection of humour and rage. As a fat, feminist, chronically ill poet, she strives to hit the balance between funny and furious. Her work explores the divide and overlap between the personal and the political, the audacity of survival, and what it means to navigate life out loud in a world that prefers silence.
Kat Dornian is an emerging, non-binary poet and Canadian settler residing in Moh’kins’tsis (Calgary, Canada) on Treaty 7 Territory. After a cancer diagnosis in 2021, Kat found healing in the rivers and riparian areas that wind through the great plains and took up a pen to capture and share their experiences. Whether creating liberatory fiction or confessional poetry, they find inspiration in navigating chronic illness in the wake of the climate crisis, and connecting to self, community, and nature in this process. Their work has appeared in Wishbone Words and Orenaug Mountain Poetry Journal.
Mary is an award-winning multimedia artist whose favourite colour is orange. An adult student of cello she lives on the edge of beautiful Fish Creek Park with her husband. She enjoys spending time in the outdoors, especially in twilight which is the best time to see a shooting star!
Cobra Collins is a Mohkínstsis based Indigenous and settler poet of significant height.
She has represented our city on a national level at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and was humbled to sit as Indigenous advocate on the Writers’ Union of Canada’s (TWUC) National Council in 2021 and 2022. Her debut short film “Hop Along Hang On” has been featured nationwide and internationally in numerous film festivals and has won several awards, including Best short film, Black Hills film festival. Cobra was also honoured to be shortlisted as a nominee for Calgary’s 2016 & 2018 poet laureate.
Bertrand Bickersteth is the award-winning author of The Response of Weeds. His work of nonfiction, Numinous Animal, will be published by Athabasca University Press in September 2026. He has two collections of poetry coming out in the next two years, Canadian Colored, Parts 1 & 2 (NeWest Press, 2027) and ’Boy (House of Anansi, 2029). ’Boy features poetry about historic Black cowboys, for which he created a font based on their cattle brands. He lives in Moh’kins’tsis (Calgary) and teaches at Olds College.
Francis A. Willey is a Calgary-based multidisciplinary artist with a 35-year legacy in Alberta’s literary scene, beginning as an early 1990s alumnus of the Stroll of Poets. A prominent voice in the province’s performance movement, he heavily contributed to the iconic Edmonton collective The Raving Poets and remains deeply tied to Calgary’s The Single Onion reading series. His widely anthologized writing is complemented by his international work as a traditional 35mm film photographer and piano composer. Reflecting his signature dark-romantic style, Willey’s forthcoming poetry collection, Goddess of the Frame burn, is slated for release in Spring 2027.
Vivian has published five books of poetry. Her latest is crawlSpace, and a collection in Leylines and Landmines.(2026) She has essays in “Coming Here, Being Here” (Gaspereau), and “You Look Good for Your Age” (U of Alberta). She is currently working on a play adaptation, memoir, short stories, and teaching with the U of C Creative Writing Certificate Program.
Beth Everest is a recently retired Mount Royal University Associate Professor of Creative Writing. Her poetry and fiction have been published in journals across the country. She has won numerous awards for her writing and her teaching. Silent Sister: the mastectomy poems (Frontenac House Ltd) was short-listed for the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize, plus the League of Canadian Poets Raymond Souster Award, and it won the Robert Kroetsch Alberta Book Publishing Award. Her third book, Some of the Facts: Jasper: When Tales were Told, was released by Frontenac House in 2024.
Inspired by the geography of the Rocky Mountains where she grew up and the rhythms of her working-class roots, Roberta’s writing is most often described as haunting and musical. Roberta has published three books – Eyes Like Pigeons (poetry), Beneath the Faceless Mountain (novel), Long After Fathers (short stories), many essays, poems and stories, and helped write and direct the film Ethyl Mermaid, based on one of her short stories. Roberta enjoys hanging out with friends and family, playing her guitar, singing, hiking, and engaging in social/political activism.
Juleta Severson-Baker was born of settler heritage and raised on Treaty 7 territory where she still lives, works and writes poetry. Her latest collection of poems, “Okay, tell me exactly what happened” (Frontenac House, fall 2026) is inspired by her time working at 911 and deals with themes of trauma and recovery.
Stuart Ian McKay is a Calgary/Edmonton based poet. His poetry and non-fiction have been published in many Canadian journals and anthologies. “the commune of our waking “,Stuart’s fourth book of poetry,was published by AOS Publishing of Montreal in 2023. He serves on the Board of Directors for the League of Canadian Poets. Stuart will be Poet in Residence at the Joy Kogawa House in Vancouver next year.
Rosemary Griebel is a poet and librarian who grew up in Treaty Six territory, where she developed a deep respect for the language of the land. In addition to her collection of poetry, Yes, her award-winning poems have appeared in The Best Canadian Poetry in English, as well as on CBC Radio, literary magazines, chapbooks, and anthologies. In 2019 one of her poems was chosen for Alberta’s first literary landmark, as part of Project Bookmark Canada’s CanLit Trail.
Weyman Chan is a Mohkinstsis/Calgary author. His seventh book of poetry, A Child’s Seance (launching Sept 2026 from Talonbooks), explores childhood loss of a mother, and the aesthetics of commemoration. He is the recipient of the 2021 Writers Trust Latner-Griffin Poetry Prize, and finalist for the 2008 Governor General’s Award for poetry.
Richard Harrison is the author of eight books of poetry, among them the Governor General’s Award-winning On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood. Currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at Mount Royal University, he is also an acclaimed editor and essayist. His most recent work, My Mother Joins the Resistance, is a book-length love poem and reflection on his mother’s struggles and victories as well as her choice, when faced with inoperable cancer, to take the MAiD option with her sons at her bedside.
Sue-Shane Tsomondo is a writer, arts administrator and occasional writing instructor based in Mohkinstsis. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Sue-Shane’s writing explores diasporan guilt, blackness and womanhood. She has previously performed for Woolfs’ Voices and Single Onion. In 2019, Sue-Shane founded Sue’s Stokvel, a literary arts platform highlighting the work of racialized writers across the globe. Sue-Shane received the Rozsa Foundation Emerging Arts Manager Award in 2024 and has appeared on the cover of the Calgary Journal and on CBC Radio for her work with Sue’s Stokvel.
Jennifer Dale Stables is a children’s book author/illustrator, Teaching Artist, visual artist, and puppeteer, and with over 20 years of experience in arts and education. She holds a B.F.A., a B.Ed., and a Certificate as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner.
Through her business, Jenny Dale Designs, she creates whimsical illustrations, sculptures, puppets, and paintings, and has authored and/or illustrated more than 20 children’s books. Over the course of her career, Jennifer has led school art residencies for schools across Calgary and throughout Alberta, working in a wide range of visual media and arts-integrated learning contexts, in addition to working as a classroom teacher. Jennifer currently teaches Kindergarten with the Calgary Board of Education.
Maria Marianayagam is an award-winning Tamil Sri Lankan-Canadian engineer turned children’s book author. She fell in love with children’s books (again!) after becoming an Amma (mom). She is the author of over 10 books for young readers, including board books, picture books, and middle grade. Her books have garnered starred reviews, award nominations, and major media coverage. When Maria is not writing, she can be found traveling the world, devouring books, and spending time with her wonderful family. She resides in Calgary, Alberta, with her husband and three children.
Erin Dingle tells it like it is. They “take that confused feeling or idea you’ve never had words for and paint it into poetry you’ll understand.” Erin is a Type 1 diabetic, a breast cancer survivor and a neurodivergent mental health advocate. They’ve been sharing their work at festivals across the continent for decades. Erin was a national poetry slam finalist five years in a row. They were also awarded the first Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award for poetry and community spirit. In Calgary, Erin performed and ran workshops as the poet laureate for Enough For All for 10 years. They’ve also worked with The United Way, YWCA, CanLearn, the CBE, the CDA and the Canadian Philanthropy Association. They are happiest bringing poetry to unexpected places. Get ready for a dynamic performance! You will know the Dingle Tingle when you feel it.”
PoëThree is Calgary’s first and only SpokenWord FunkFusion Jazz-Blues Quartet. Founded by PoEmcee Wakefield Brewster in 2023, the musical prowess of PoëThree simply oozes from 3 nation-wide legendary session masters on drums, bass, and keyboards. ‘Stompy’ Jon McCaslin, Jeff Gammon, and composer ‘Celestial’ Chris Tacuhner (tock-ner), respectively and righteously lay down the musics for Wakefield Brewster to flow on. Poetry SpokenWord and Rap have finally found a home together on stage with a fully analog presentation, and after a 3 decade hiatus from performing music publicly, Wakefield Brewster is back with a band, again. From Arts Commons/Werklund Centre, to the Ironwood with JazzYYC, PoëThree is here to make its presence! Calgary’s one and only, PoëThree.
Thank you to our partners, sponsors, and event hosts for their contributions that helped make this year’s Stroll of Poets Festival happen!
