Writes of Spring Poetry Reading

For the ninth year in a row, Writes of Spring—a National Poetry Month project of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival and the Winnipeg Free Press—will appear in the print and online editions of the newspaper. Poems by Manitoba writers will appear in the Winnipeg Free Press on April 27 and will be launched at McNally Robinson Booksellers the next day!

The event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream.

This year, Writes of Spring is working with the City of Winnipeg’s Winnipeg 150 theme, “Our shared stories. Our shared future.” Winnipeg 150 marks the anniversary of the first meeting of city council in January 1874.

Hosted by editors Ariel Gordon and Julian Day, this event will feature readings by the 2024 Writes of Spring poets, including Jody Baltessen, Joel Caples, Conni Cartlidge, Kristian Enright, Mary Horodyski, Louella Lester, K. Marie Neufeld, Laurent Poliquin, Kerry Ryan, Tamar Rubin, Kate Sjoberg, Hanako Teranishi.

Julian Day is a software developer and poet, and the author of the chapbooks Orbits (Model Press) and Late Summer Flowers (Anstruther Press). His work has appeared most recently in CV2 and the Antigonish Review.

Ariel Gordon (she/her) is a Winnipeg/Treaty 1 territory-based writer, editor, and enthusiast. Her fifth book, Siteseeing: Writing nature & climate change across the prairies, written in collaboration with Saskatchewan poet Brenda Schmidt, was published by At Bay Press in fall 2023 and was recently shortlisted for a 2024 Saskatchewan Book Award.

Special thanks to Assiniboine Credit Union for sponsoring this event!