A group of poets is setting out on a ten-day reading tour by canoe down the Grand River.
The poets, travelling in what they call the Fish Quill Poetry Boat, will paddle from Elora to the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and read their work in cafés, arts centres, and heritage sites along the way.
Fish Quill Poetry Boat is comprised of Canadian poets, including two past winners of the CBC Literary awards and a Griffin Poetry Prize finalist.
Participating are: Linda Besner, Asa Boxer, Jeramy Dodds, Gabe Foreman, Helen Guri, Leigh Kotsilidis, and Daniel Kincade Renton.
Toronto musician Abigail Lapell will also be performing. Fish Quill Poetry Boat will kick off the tour with a performance in Toronto on Aug. 4 at 7pm at The Boat.
Scheduled stops are Elora’s Bissell Park pavilion on Aug. 5, West Montrose Kissing Bridge on Aug. 6, Waterloo Region Museum on Aug. 7, Cambridge’s O’Keefe Cottage Cafe & Ice Cream Parlour on Aug. 9, Paris’ Brown Dog Coffee Roastery on Aug. 10, Brantford Arts Block on Aug. 11, and Six Nations Chiefswood National Historic Site on Aug. 13.
All performances are at 7pm and are free. The tour also includes a Paddle with the Poets day on Aug. 8. The public is invited to rent a canoe or bring along their own and join the boat at 10am at Kitchener’s Bingeman’s camping.
Leigh Kotsilidis, one of the tour’s organizers, said, “We hope to give riverside residents a greater sense of ownership of and connectedness to contemporary literary culture.”
The Fish Quill Poetry Boat is in its second year.
